Ricky Ponting : Smith will end up being a better player than I was

Smith began his Test career in 2010 as a leg-spinner who batted at the No 8 position, but by the time he was named Australia captain five years later he was the top-ranked batsman in the ICC Test rankings. With 4888 runs from 94 innings, Smith is only 112 runs away from equaling the third-fastest ever to 5000 Test runs. 

"If Smithy keeps maintaining what he's doing now for another 100 Tests then he probably will end up being a better player than me," Ponting, who scored over 27,000 international runs, told News Ltd. 

"He's not doing much wrong at the moment, is he? I know he's got great passion and got a great drive to be the best player he can be and probably the best player the world has ever seen, which is a great attitude to have. 

"I wanted to be the best player in the world as well and I wanted to be able to sustain it for a long period of time. And that's what really separates the great players; how long you can actually sustain a high level of excellence."

When Smith was struggling to establish himself in 2013, Ponting had put his weight behind the current Aussie skipper, saying he has the potential to become a great player. 

"I think we've seen Steven Smith develop into a better player in the last 12 months than he was when we first saw him play for Australia."

In his book, At the Close of Play, Ponting had written, "I rate Steve Smith very highly and think he is an important part of Australian cricket's future.”

"This came home to me during the 2013 Ashes when somebody asked me on Radio who was a potential next captain, and as I quickly went through the list of candidates, he (Smith) seemed to be the obvious one."