Steve Smith Overtakes Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag To Became Fastest Batsman To Score 7,500 Test Runs
Steve Smith. Image Credit: Getty Images.

Australia’s batting mainstay Steve Smith has surpassed Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar — to become the fastest batsman to score 7,500 Test runs. He held this record after scoring a fluent 55 runs on day four of the fourth Test match against India.

Steve Smith took 139 innings to reach the landmark, in the process of beating the previous record jointly held by the Indian duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag (144 innings). Following them are Sir Garfield Sobers and Kumar Sangakkara, who took 147 innings apiece to reach 7500 Test runs, while another Indian legend – Rahul Dravid – got there in 148 innings.

Steve Smith achieves two more feats:

Steve Smith Overtakes Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag To Became Fastest Batsman To Score 7,500 Test Runs 1
Steve Smith. Image Credit: Getty Images.

During his 55-run knock, Steve Smith also completed 12,000 First-class runs with his half-century which led Australia to put 328 runs on their second innings.

He also went past former Australian captain Mark Taylor in the list of Australia’s leading run-scorers in Test cricket.

Steve Smith is now at number eight with 7540 runs in 77 Tests at an average of 61.80 with 27 hundreds and 31 fifties. Taylor scored 7525 runs in 104 Tests at an average of 43.49, which included 19 hundred and 40 half-centuries.

Steve Smith’s return to form put Australian’s in a strong position:

Steve Smith Overtakes Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag To Became Fastest Batsman To Score 7,500 Test Runs 2
Image Credit: Getty Images.

Ravichandran Ashwin had made Steve Smith his bunny in the first two Test matches, picking his wicket for a duck in the first innings of the second Test. And, cricket boffins stated that Smith is out of form.

But the unorthodox batsman defied all the talks around his form by scoring the first century of the series in the third Test. He was the highest scorer in that match which ended in a draw because the visitors showed their pure class and resilience to fight back.

In the fourth Test of the second innings, Mohammed Siraj bowled a beauty to pick one of the best Test batsmen wicket. Smith had contributed 36 runs in Australia’s first innings.