Steve Smith has entered the Himalayan stage of his career: so many mountains of runs, it is hard for individual peaks to stand out. His unbeaten 178 at Ranchi deserves to be remembered as a masterpiece of concentration and strength of mind. Mocked and even excoriated since Bangalore, the Australian captain willed himself to carry his team on his shoulders, and he did.
From Murdoch through Bradman to Clarke, leading by example has been the first requirement of the long-term Australian captains. Smith's innings, as a meaningful step in this series and a further revelation of his personal capability, was one of true significance.
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India resolute in first innings reply
Australia were all out for 451 with Glenn Maxwell hitting his maiden Test ton and Steve Smith unbeaten on 178, before India looked solid in reply on Day 2 of the Third Test.
And yet, perhaps unfairly – always the burden of the overachiever – Smith's innings was less eye-catching than the performances of the two Australians brought into the team in Ranchi. Smith is the permanent cornerstone of this Australian team. Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell, on the other hand, represent two versions of potential greatness and missed opportunity, of wishes not yet fulfilled. Cummins was, six years ago, the future of Australian cricket. No Test matches later, he still is – through no fault of his own. Maxwell also has been the embodiment of a future that tantalises, frustrates, but has often seemed lost. His missed chances, by contrast, seemed to be nobody's fault but his own.
There was no question about Cummins's suitability as Mitchell Starc's replacement. Those who saw him at close quarters in his Sheffield Shield return were startled by how good he was. His eight wickets against South Australia were merely proof of what the eye and the instinct appreciated.
Thrown into a Test match – has there ever been such a bizarre career? – Cummins did not take the wickets, but his pace and brains warmed the Australian heart. On a featherbed pitch, he was full and fast and, fortune willing, not fragile. It must be remembered that he was bowling to Murali Vijay, a run machine on Indian wickets, and KL Rahul, who has been Smith's only rival as the batsman of the series.
Rahul had made batting look outlandishly easy in Pune and Bangalore, so little wonder that he prospered again on a batsman's deck. As Vijay and Rahul advanced, Australia's total of 451 was shrinking in the heat.
Cummins showed the unexpected benefits of having been confined to short-form cricket. He varied his length and pace, tried trick balls and slow balls and slower-still balls. Often full, Cummins trapped Rahul by dropping short. For a bowler of any less pace and guile, the half-tracker he gave Rahul in the last hour could have been clubbed away through midwicket or safely avoided. But Cummins combined pace and surprise to capture the prize, Rahul gloving the ball on the way through to an unsuspecting Matthew Wade.
It had been an eternity since the previous one, Dale Steyn at the Wanderers in November 2011, also caught behind. But if they are prepared to wait, wicketkeepers will rack up big statistics through bowlers like Cummins.
![Overachiever: Steve Smith's extended knock was one of true significance.](/web/20170319230217im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/0/y/c/0/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv0ybl.png/1489799514618.jpg)
Maxwell, meanwhile, made a Test century. Read it again. Sing it, if you like. Glenn Maxwell, Test centurion. Australia found a No.6 who turned their first innings from a disappointment into a statement. On day two, it has to be said that Maxwell's batting lacked the sharpness it had had on day one. Whereas his batting on Thursday was about maintaining focus, playing straight, supporting his captain and, ultimately, dominating the bowling – beautiful Test match batting, in other words – on Friday Maxwell seemed preoccupied with the century. His timing and footwork had lost their crispness, and the closer the milestone came, the further away it receded. He got nervous. Who can blame him?
To be fair, Maxwell by this stage was a long way out of his comfort zone – a zone that had been all too embracing, and all too comfortable, throughout his chequered career. He was so far out of it that there were doubters that this was actually Glenn Maxwell and not some imposter. But even when his fluency deserted him, he managed to resist the usual Maxwell downfall, the sudden explosion of ambition into hubris. What his captain might call a brain fade.
![Breakthrough: Smith congratulates Glenn Maxwell on his maiden Test century.](/web/20170319230217im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/0/y/c/c/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv0ybl.png/1489900655666.jpg)
It didn't come, and the young man finally reached three figures with a streaky cut that might, on another day, have gone to one of India's randomly placed slips. Maxwell let out a Banshee scream that could be heard in Australia. What a wonderful moment, to see talent fulfilled, at last, in the most challenging foreign arena.
Vindication for the selectors too. Perhaps. Having been given years of encouragement, Maxwell had, in the past six months, been put on sudden and harsh cold turkey. He was taken to series and not given a game, even in the shortened versions at which he was a proven quantity. He was frozen out by Victorian and Australian teammates. Having been given years of kindness and faith, he was now shown the tough side of love.
Had that been shown to work? Had Maxwell been ripened by wise selectors leaving him on the windowsill? Maybe, and give them credit for this outcome. On the other hand, Maxwell's success casts new light on the continued selection of Mitchell Marsh in his place, light which doesn't shine so kindly. For all his past waywardness, it was always imaginable that Maxwell could play an innings like this. For Marsh, only to the extreme optimist. And with that, a sinister question: with this matured and reformed Maxwell in the batting line-up, could Bangalore have turned out differently?
We'll never know, so it's better to rejoice in what we do know and have now seen. On this day, the big show became the real deal.