Steve Smith Fastest To Record 7,000 Test Runs

Australia’s best batsman Steve Smith hardly made an impact in the first Test against Pakistan in Brisbane as he got out for 4 runs to Pakistani spinner Yasir Shah. However, the talismanic batsman made up for his previous rare dismal by scripting world record to his name in the pink-ball Test. He got off to a sublime start in the second Test at Adelaide on Saturday to become the fastest batsman to score 7,000 runs in Test cricket.

Australian stalwart who averages in excess of 64 in the red-ball format went past late England cricket Wally Hammond who had taken 5 innings more than Steve Smith to achieve the same feat. Steve Smith has been in the form of his life especially during the iconic Ashes Test series against England where he accumulated as many as 774 runs in 5 Tests and also rose to the top of ICC Rankings for Test batsmen.

Steve Smith creates history in Tests

Australia did bat just once in the opening match and thereby Smith didn’t get the chance to switch gears in the second innings. He was fully prepared to do well in the pink-ball Test and he did create history with ease. Steve Smith accomplished the feat in 126 innings. He was only 23 runs away from scaling the 7000-mark as he stepped out to bat after Marnus Labuschagne’s departure on Day 2 of the pink-ball affair.

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While he achieved the feat in a grand fashion, he also surpassed the great Sir Donald Bradman’s overall tally of 6996 runs. It is also worth mentioning here that besides Smith, there are 10 other Australians who have gone past Bradman’s tally in Tests. The second-fastest batsman to score 7000 Test runs in terms of the number of innings is Wally Hammond who did it in 131 innings.

Virender Sehwag follows next on the list with 134 innings and Sachin Tendulkar did it in 136 innings. Sir Garry Sobers, Kumar Sangakkara and Virat Kohli became the joint-fifth fastest to reach the landmark in 138 innings. Mohammad Yousuf follows next on the list as he did it in 139 innings. Sunil Gavaskar and Vivian Richards did it in 140 innings.