Brisbane: Australia batsman Steve Smith added another milestone to his career Monday. He became the quickest to 7,500 Test runs in terms of number of innings played. In the process, Steve Smith went past Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar and former opener Virender Sehwag. In the Australian second innings Smith scored 55 before being dismissed by Mohammed Siraj. During the course of his innings at the Gabba here, Smith reached the 7,500 Test runs landmark.
It took Smith 139 innings to reach the landmark. On the other hand both Tendulkar and Sehwag had taken 144 innings to score 7,500 runs in Tests.
Following Tendulkar and Sehwag in the list are former West Indies batsman Gary Sobers and former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara. Both had taken 147 innings to achieve the feat.
Smith while batting Monday showed his intent from the word go. He was lucky to have been dropped by Siraj off Washington Sundar. However, keeping that in mind, Smith’s innings still was all class. He attacked all the bowlers as the Australians wanted some quick runs for declaring the innings and putting India in.
However, that did not happen as Siraj and Shardul Thakur bowled well. Siraj ended with his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket while Thakur dismissed four Australian batsmen. It was due to their efforts that Australian innings ended at 294 leaving India with 328 to get in the fourth innings for a win.
The highest successful run chase at Gabba was in 1951, when Australia finished 236-7. The Australians haven’t lost at the Gabba since 1988. However, such has been India’s resilience in the series, that nobody is counting them out.
