India legends Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri hailed Steve Smith after he scored a sublime century in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship (WTC Final) at the Oval, London on Thursday.
Australia were in a spot of bother on day one of the Test when Steve Smith was joined by Travis Head in the middle. The duo joined hands when their team was reeling at 76 for 3 in the second session. From thereon, it was a one-way traffic as Head and Smith did not let India take any more wicket on day 1. Head took the Indian bowlers to the cleaners while Smith played the anchor’s role.
At the end of the day, Australia were in a commanding position. They finished the day on 327 for 3 with Head unbeaten on 146 and Smith unbeaten on 95. Smith reached his century inside the first hour on day two to take his tally to 31 centuries in the longest format of the game. Mohammed Siraj broke the stand when he sent back Head for 161.
Gavaskar and Shastri hail Steve Smith:
Steve Smith did not last long either after his century as Shardul Thakur sent him back for 121. And as Smith scored the century, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri lavished praise on him. Gavaskar called his knock a ‘super hundred’ and pointed out that it was a perfect Test knock from the former Australia skipper.
“Don’t take anything away from this man (Smith), this is a super hundred. A proper Test match hundred. He was patient yesterday, now he is looking to go. What a player this man is. What a Test match cycle he is having,” Gavaskar said on air.
Gavaskar’s former teammate Shastri added: “31st hundred, 7 in England and only behind Don Bradman (11) has more. Phenomenal player. 9th against India.”
Smith now jointly holds the record for scoring most Test centuries against India in India. He and Joe Root have smashed 9 centuries against India in the longest format of the game. Smith is also second in the list of most Test centuries by a visiting batsman in England. He will have the chance to break the record during the upcoming Ashes series.