Only one day after eclipsing Ponting with the most Test catches by a non-wicketkeeping Australian (197), Smith brought up another milestone in Galle.
He needed 27 runs to pass Ponting's mark of 1,889 on the subcontinent, and hit the last run required to long on from Nishan Peiris 15 minutes after lunch.
Ponting's tally came from 48 innings at 41.97, while Smith reached him in his 42nd innings, with his average 51.08.
On the day before the second Test, Smith had winced at the thought of another batting milestone. He had earlier admitted to becoming preoccupied with the 10,000-run mark he brought up early in the first Sri Lanka Test.
Smith almost came up short again in, first surviving an lbw appeal on the first ball he faced.
On 12, he edged just short of first slip from Prabath Jaysuriya's bowling in the first session, before successfully reviewing when umpire Joel Wilson gave him out lbw four runs short of the milestone.
Smith's expertise on the subcontinent will be vital as Australia negotiate a tough Galle wicket on which Sri Lanka posted 257 runs in their first innings.
That expertise was on full show in the first Test when Smith brought up his fastest Test half-century from only 57 balls en route to a brilliant 141.
It was the stand-in captain's third hundred in his past four matches in Sri Lanka and sixth in Asia overall, drawing him level with Allan Border for the most tons on the subcontinent by an Australian.
Smith averages better than 50 in Tests in each of Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan.
There remains a chance the ongoing second Test will be his last in Asia, though.
The veteran right-hander was non-committal when asked this week whether he aimed to play on Australia's next subcontinent tour to India in early 2027.
By that time, he will be 37.
21°C