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Australia stand-in captain Steven Smith is looking to put the 10,000 Test runs milestone out of his head in the first Test of the two-match series against Sri Lanka.
In the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India, the stage was set for Smith as he made his way towards the crease in front of a jam-packed crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground. After a fiery start by young Sam Konstas, Australia had to resort to caution while chasing a modest score of 162, considering the seaming conditions. The local hero in front of his home crowd stood just a run away from celebrating a massive milestone in his illustrious career. However, Prasidh Krishna extracted extra bounce from the surface, forcing Smith to commit to the shot. With his feet planted in the ground, Smith appeared helpless while trying to fend off the elevating delivery. He ended up slicing the ball to Yashasvi Jaiswal, who dived from the third slip to take a stunning catch. The moment Jaiswal took a stunner, Smith was left dangling at 9,999 Test runs. The crowd at the SCG went bonkers, with realization slowly creeping into Smith of waiting another day to complete 10,000 Test runs. After the tantalizing memory, Smith admitted that he thought too much about the moment in Sydney. This time around, he will try to put the milestone out of his mind. "I'll just try to put it out of my mind, to be honest. I probably thought too much about it in Sydney. This time, I'll just try to forget it and focus on the job at hand," Smith said of the milestone, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo, ahead of the opening Test against Sri Lanka on Wednesday. Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster Sri Lanka Test squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka (subject to fitness), Oshada Fernando, Lahiru Udara, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Sonal Dinusha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nishan Peiris, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Milan Rathnayake. (ANI)
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