New Delhi: After not achieving the milestone in the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney, Australia’s interim captain Steve Smith successfully reached the 10,000-run mark in Test cricket on the first day of the opening match against Sri Lanka. In addition to reaching this significant total, Smith also scored his 35th Test century, with 17 of those centuries being scored outside of Australia. This accomplishment allowed Smith to surpass Indian cricket star Virat Kohli in the rankings for the most away centuries in Test matches.
Kohli previously ranked first with 16 centuries scored in away Test matches but was surpassed by Smith on Wednesday.
After not achieving the milestone in his hometown of Sydney during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, Smith reached the five-figure mark in Australia’s first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. He executed his characteristic flick shot towards mid-on, took off for a single, and then raised his bat to recognize the crowd’s applause.
The occasion was celebrated with applause from the Australian audience.
Smith increased the score to 137/2 with his run, maintaining Australia’s solid beginning after the visiting team won the toss and chose to bat.
The 35-year-old has achieved an impressive batting average exceeding 55, with only Kumar Sangakkara having a higher average (57.40) among players with over 10,000 runs. He is now recognized as the fifth fastest player in terms of innings to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.
The batter becomes the fourth Australian, following Allan Border, Steve Waugh, and Ricky Ponting, to achieve this milestone.
Following Smith’s latest achievement as a renowned member of the ‘Fab Four,’ Ponting believes that the dynamic batsman should be regarded as the top player of his generation.
Ponting believes that Smith’s statistics strongly support the argument for him being the top player of his generation, surpassing Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root.
“Is he the best player of his generation? It’s hard to argue against it. Joe Root is the other one now, and [Kane] Williamson’s record is outstanding as well. Joe’s last couple of years have elevated him right back up there, I think,” Seven commentator Ponting was cited in The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Five or six years ago, when this big four emerged, with [Virat] Kohli being one of those as well, Joe was probably down near the bottom part of that because he hadn’t made the hundreds the other guys had made, but he’s made 19 hundreds in the past four years,” he added.
