Australia’s star batter Steve Smith brought up his 34th Test hundred on Day 2 of the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against India in Melbourne.

It was Smith’s second successive century in the longest format as he drew level with the likes of Brian Lara, Sunil Gavaskar, Younis Khan, and Mahela Jayawardene on the all-time list.

Smith's remarkable innings of 140 off 197 balls also marked his 11th Test ton against India – the most by any batter. He left behind England’s Joe Root (10 hundreds v India) behind in this list.

Only one Australian player has more Test centuries than Smith, with former captain Ricky Ponting (41) now just seven centuries ahead of the right-hander. The all-time record remains with Sachin Tendulkar, who scored a staggering 51 centuries during his illustrious career.

However, Smith's record-breaking knock came to an unexpected and bizarre end in the post-lunch session at the MCG.

On the first delivery of the 115th over, Smith charged down the wicket for an extravagant shot against Akash Deep but dragged an inside edge onto his back leg. The ball then ricocheted onto the stumps, dislodging a bail.

Smith was left stunned by the unusual dismissal, but he walked off with a smile amid a standing ovation from the crowd.

Here’s the video:

Coming to the Melbourne Test, the hosts racked up a mammoth 474/10 in their first innings on the back of Steve Smith’s stunning hundred. Australia’s top-three also returned with half-centuries while captain Pat Cummins made a handy contribution of 49 runs.

In reply, the visitors were 51/2 at Tea break on Day 2. India lost Rohit Sharma (3) and KL Rahul (24) in the second session of play.