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Australia's modern-day great Steve Smith moved past cricketing icons Sunil Gavaskar, Younis Khan, Brian Lara and Mahela Jayawardene in the tally of most Test hundreds by a player.
In the opening Test on Wednesday against Sri Lanka in Galle, Smith first got the monkey off his shoulder by pushing the ball away for a single to complete 10,000 Test runs. Smith didn't dwell on what occurred in Sydney after being perched on 9,999 runs Test runs by Prasidh Krishna in front of the Australian's home crowd. After reaching the landmark occasion, Smith stood and soaked in the applause coming from the Australian fans, who travelled in numbers to Galle to support the Baggy Greens. He raised the bat to all corners of the ground to celebrate the landmark moment of his illustrious career. Moments later, he sent the ball back to Prabath Jayasuriya, who fumbled his chance and ended up dropping the opportunity. After seeing a lifeline fall his way, Smith never looked back and ensured reaching his 35th Test ton. With another Test century to his name, Smith went past Gavaskar, Younis, Lara and Jayawardene, who all ended their careers with 34 Test hundreds. Overall, Smith is the seventh-highest Test century scorer and the second-highest Australian after former captain Ricky Ponting, who struck 41 tons in his glorious career. The stand-in captain for the series went unbeaten at 104* in 188 balls, laced with a whopping 10 fours and a sole six, involved in a 195-run partnership with Usman Khawaja (147* in 210 balls, with 10 fours and a six). In 115 Tests, Smith has garnered 10,103 runs at an average of 56.44, including 35 centuries and 41 fifties, with the best score of 239. He is the fourth Australian after Ricky Ponting (13,378), Allan Border (11,174) and Steve Waugh (10,927) to reach the 10,000 run mark in Tests and overall 15th player. (ANI)
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