With his hands located, Smith puts his foot to the floor

Steve Smith went into the first Dettol ODI against India claiming he'd "found his hands", but it was his capacity to put his foot to the floor that proved even more revelatory in Australia's dominant batting display.

Smith's 105 from 62 balls faced not only iced his team's huge 50-over total of 6-374, it was the third-fastest men's ODI century by an Australian and - by his own admission - came as something of a contrast to his usual modus operandi in the one-day format.

In 110 previous ODI knocks for his country, Smith scoring rate was an altogether respectable 86.67 runs per 100 balls faced but during his 105-minute innings at the SCG yesterday he almost doubled that rate to 159.09.

Earlier this week, Smith revealed he had been unhappy with the manner in which he was gripping the bat during a mostly frustrating stint with Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, but that problem had been magically resolved last weekend when everything "clicked into place".

Smith said last night he felt he'd also found the right balance between trying to hit the ball too hard, something he identified as a reason for his modest IPL return, and playing to his natural strength which is manipulating the ball around the field.

"I've been searching for something with my hands," he said in the wake of Australia's 66-run win in the first of the three-game Dettol ODI Series.

"I haven't felt quite right for a while and maybe that's T20 cricket, trying to be a bit more powerful and probably not playing as much to my strengths as I'd like.

"So I've been getting myself back to my normal grip and finding it.

'It might sound really funny but it just sort of clicked into place the other day and I was able drive the ball where I wanted to, I could beat mid-off on the left side and I wasn't slicing the ball as much as I was in the IPL for a little while.

"I just found a nice rhythm again.

"I wasn't thinking too much about it.

"It was just see-ball, hit-ball and obviously the foundation (by openers Aaron Finch and David Warner) had been set so I could be quite aggressive.

"I picked my bowlers and where I wanted to hit them, and just played some good shots to the areas of my strengths.

"It was nice to hit a few in the middle, and spend a bit of time out there and hopefully it holds me in good stead for the rest of the summer."

Smith went to the wicket in the 28th over with Australia 1-156 and already eyeing a 300-plus total, and conceded he "rode his luck" in the early part of his innings.

He was given out lbw on 15 but was spared when he called for a review, which showed the ball scraping above the bails by sufficient margin to overturn the on-field decision.

Next delivery from left-arm spinner Ravi Jadeja, Smith lifted the ball to deep square leg where Jasprit Bumrah found himself out of position as the chance evaded his outstretched left hand.

Four overs later, Shikhar Dhawan made an even greater misjudgement when he initially ran in to meet Smith's lofted on-drive off Jadeja only to be forced into back-pedalling as the ball cleared his head and rolled into the rope.

It was all the evidence Smith needed to confirm it was his night, and Finch – who raised his own century as the pair posted a 108-run partnership for the second wicket -  revealed the former captain likens himself to US baseball slugger Barry Bonds when he's in that sort of imperious mood.

"He struck it beautifully," Finch told cricket.com.au.

"The way that he moved, the intent that he showed was second to none. 

"That’s as good a one-day innings as you’ll see."

Smith wasn't prepared to label it the best ODI innings of a career that has now yielded 10 centuries and a batting average of 43.10 given some of those have come in far more trying match circumstances than he found himself in yesterday.

And while the 31-year-old believes the confidence and competence the batting grip issue gave him heading into yesterday's innings, the fluency he showed in belting the fastest hundred of his career to date could also be attributed to the platform laid by Finch and Warner.

"There wasn't a whole lot of pressure," Smith said of the scenario that confronted him when he reached the middle.

"Probably at other times when I've batted my best, it's been when the team's been under a bit of pressure and I've had to play almost an anchor role to help us get a total.

"Today was a bit different from my normal strike rate.

"It was just a day when balls were hitting the middle of the bat a lot, and I was placing it and hitting the gap.

"I felt really good out there."

Dettol ODI Series v India 2020

Australia ODI squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey , Pat Cummins (vc), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Sams, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur.

First ODI: Australia won by 66 runs

Second ODI: November 29, SCG, 2.40pm AEDT

Third ODI: December 2, Manuka Oval, 2.40pm AEDT

*The matches and travel remain subject to any relevant government restrictions or requirements