Steve Smith Surpass Ponting & Border, Equals Rahul Dravid

Star Australian batsman Steve Smith surpassed the legendary Ricky Ponting to become the country’s leading Test run-scorer on the Asian subcontinent. On the second day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle on Friday, Smith broke Ponting’s record. A day after breaking Ponting’s record for most Test catches by an Australian outfielder (197), Smith became Australia’s most-run scorer in the Asian subcontinent. Fifteen minutes after 12:00, the Australian batsman scored a single against Sri Lankan spinner Nishan Peiris to break Ponting’s Asian record of 1,889 runs.

Smith is now tied for the fifth-highest century-maker in Test history, having equaled the great Rahul Dravid and England’s Joe Root with this century. Smith has now amassed 17 away Test hundreds, compared to 16 for Kohli, and he was undefeated at 120 as Australia reached a massive 330/3 at stumps, with a 73-run lead in the first innings.

Steve Smith outperforms Ponting

Ponting scored 1,889 runs at an average of 41.97 across 48 innings. However, Smith reached the milestone in just his 42nd innings, despite having an impressive average of 51.08 in Asia. Smith earlier admitted that he had been reluctant to place too much importance on milestones. He had been too busy reaching 10,000 career Test runs. He had already done it in the first Test match against Sri Lanka.

Despite early setbacks, including surviving an LBW appeal on the first ball he faced and a close edge off Prabath Jayasuriya’s bowling on 12, Smith was only four runs short of the milestone. Then he successfully reversed an LBW decision against him in the second Test.

Smith and Carey give a hard time to Sri Lanka

At the end of Day 2, Australia leads by 73 runs thanks to the knocks of Carey and Smith. Australia ended the second day with a score of 330/3, while Sri Lanka was all out for 257. Usman Khawaja dropped shortly after lunch, and the score was 91/3. That’s when the two came together. Smith was declared leg before wicket to Nishan Peiris earlier on 23. However, he quickly challenged the ruling. It was reversed after replays showed that the ball had hit him outside the off-stump.

Prior to Australia surpassing Sri Lanka’s total, Smith achieved his 36th test century with a pulled boundary off Kamindu Mendis. Carey eventually passed his captain after hitting Jayasuriya for two fours, in an over on his way to a 118-ball century.