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Steve Smith leaves behind Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid to achieve incredible Test batting record
During his knock of 59, Steve Smith left behind some Asian batting giants to register a fine batting record.
Australia's batting sensation Steve Smith has scored three half-centuries in three Tests against Pakistan but a century continues to elude him. However, that hasn't stopped the former Australia captain from achieving batting milestones. Smith opened Australia's tour of Pakistan with 78 in the first Test in Rawalpindi and followed it with an innings of 72 in Karachi, both of which ended in a draw. Smith was once again at his run-scoring best when he hit 59 on Day 1 of the Lahore Test. Even though there are some concerns about Smith not going on to convert his fifties into hundred, he has looked assured in each of the innings he has played so far. (Also Read: 'They got lot of easy pitches. These players need spaces to score runs': Rashid Latif on Kohli, Smith's century drought)
"I thought he batted really well today. He was stiff. His bat got stuck in his pad. You bowl that ball against Steve Smith; he's hitting it 99 out of 100 times. I'm sure it's frustrating in some respects. He is in my opinion the greatest batter I've seen in my era, averaging 60 throughout pretty much his whole Test career," teammates Usman Khawaja said at the end of the opening day.
"It's so funny. We're talking about Steve Smith probably not scoring hundreds but he seems to be getting 70, 80 every game and doing it very easily. That's just the class that Steve Smith has. I'm sure there's a big score coming and then once he gets a big score there will be more big scores. The odds say that he's going to get a big one very soon."
Having said that, during his knock of 59, Smith left behind some Asian batting giants for a fine batting record. With his half-century, the former Australia captain now holds the record for most runs after 150 Test innings. Smith took his tally to 7993 runs, leaving behind Kumar Sangakkara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. Sangakkara is now second in the list with 7913 runs, followed by Tendulkar (7869), Sehwag (7694) and Dravid (7680) at third fourth and fifth respectively. Smith is only seven short of 8000 Test runs and provided he gets there in the second innings, another record awaits him.
