Steve Smith Surpasses Sunil Gavaskar In Elite Record, Turns into third Quickest Batter To… | Cricket Information

After reaching the historic 10,000-run milestone with a single, Steve Smith went on to attain his thirty fifth Check century and helped Australia attain 330 for two on Day 1 of the primary Check towards Sri Lanka at Galle, Sri Lanka on Wednesday. Smith was batting on 104 at stumps with Usman Khawaja unbeaten on 147, having anchored the Australian innings, elevating 195 runs for the third wicket partnership. Coming in to bat at No.4, Smith displayed his trademark precision and composure, forging a powerful partnership with Usman Khawaja. His hundred, achieved off 179 balls (10 fours and 1 six) in his 205th innings, locations him third on the listing of quickest to 35 Check centuries, trailing solely Ricky Ponting (195) and Sachin Tendulkar (200) by way of innings taken to achieve the milestone.

Smith is now solely the seventh batter to file 35 Check centuries, becoming a member of an elite listing that features Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45), Ponting (41), Kumar Sangakkara (38), Rahul Dravid (36), and Joe Root (36).

Smith surpassed the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene and Younis Khan within the listing of batters with most Check tons of. All of the 4 ex-cricketers slammed 34 tons every within the format.

His achievement is additional amplified by his captaincy file, as this was his sixteenth Check hundred as Australia captain, surpassing Allan Border and Steve Waugh, each of whom had 15. Amongst Australian captains, solely Ponting (19) has scored extra centuries, whereas globally, Smith ranks fourth behind Graeme Smith (25), Virat Kohli (20), and Ponting.

Smith’s dominance with the bat extends to his numbers as a pacesetter, as he closed in on 4,000 Check runs as captain, boasting a median of over 68 – second solely to Don Bradman’s extraordinary 101 amongst skippers with at the very least 3,000 Check runs.

Earlier within the day, Smith turned simply the fifteenth batter to surpass 10,000 Check runs, becoming a member of an unique membership of Australian greats that features Allan Border, Steve Waugh, and Ricky Ponting. He additionally turned the fifth-fastest to the milestone, trailing solely Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Sangakkara, and Ponting, all of whom reached the mark in 195 or 196 innings.