Former Australia batsmen Brad Hodge feels Australia skipper Steve Smith can get close to the Test century tally of batting legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.

Smith has transformed himself into arguably the finest batsman in the world ever since taking the captaincy. He has scored heavily in the last couple of years or so and has continued that red-hot form in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series too. In a series where the majority of the batsmen including the India skipper Virat Kohli have struggled for runs, Smith has looked in brilliant form, scoring 482 runs at an average of over 80 with the help of 3 centuries.

His third century of the innings in the Dharamsala Test has taken his career tally to 20 tons and Hodge feels that if the Aussie skipper could keep on amassing runs like this, he can go on to score close to 50 centuries.

“He could do 40 or 50 if he’s good enough and I think that he is if he keeps churning them out like this,” Hodge told ‘Fox Sports News.

“He’s probably going at one (century) in (every) three (Tests) at the moment so if he keeps playing till he’s 35 some of us play till we’re 42, so time’s on his side.

“Forty or 50 is not out of reach, I don’t reckon…He’s a superstar. I think he’ll go on to close down the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting,” Hodge added.

The all-time list is led by Tendulkar with 51 tons while South Africa’s Jacques Kallis (45) and Australia’s Ponting (41) sit next to in the list.

“To reach 20 Test (hundreds) takes a helluva lot of effort and skill. He’s done that and he’s probably just going to go on.

“He’s got time on his side, he’s batting as best as he possibly could. Technically, he’s just completely different to what we know. He’s just leading from the front, it’s what a captain of Australia is meant to do,” he concluded.