Steve Smith, who stood in as Australia’s captain during the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney, achieved a milestone of 10,001 runs on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka. This knock helped Smith bring up his 35th Test century, 17 of which have come away from home-an accomplishment that surpassed the tally of India’s own Virat Kohli, for the maximum away centuries in Test cricket.
The dethroning of Kohli as the holder of 16 away Test centuries began on Wednesday.
Having failed to accomplish this feat in his home city of Sydney during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, it was Smith who brought up the 10-thousand runs in Australia’s first Test against Sri Lanka, scoring with his trademark flick toward mid-on, setting off for one before raising his bat to salute the applause.
At this moment, an ovation erupted from the Australian team.
After that run, Smith took Australia to 137/2 as they continued their impressive start after the tourists had won the toss and chosen to bat first.
Smith reached his seniority by scoring 10,001 Test runs at an average of over 55, he has been ranked the fifth fastest batter, by innings, to reach the 10,000-run mark in Tests with only Kumar Sangakkara scoring better than Smith, beyond the magical number.
The batter became the fourth Australian to reach the milestone, joining the likes of Allan Border, Steve Waugh, and Ricky Ponting.