Manchester, September 5: Steve Smith cracked his 26th Test hundred during the second day's play of the fourth Ashes Test against England at Old Trafford here on Thursday (September 6). With this hundred Smith has gone past India skipper Virat Kohli, who has 25 Test hundreds.
At this point, Smith has made 6678 runs in 67 Tests (including the current Manchester Test) at 64.21 with 26 hundreds and 25 fifties. Correspondingly, Kohli has made 6749 runs from 79 Tests at 53.14 with 25 hundreds and 22 fifties.
However, Kohli did not get a hundred in the two-match Test series against the West Indies that India clean swept recently. Now, Kohli will have a chance to have a go at Smith in the upcoming three-match home Test series against South Africa, beginning on October 2.
But for the time being, Smith' feat has to be celebrated. The former Australian captain is playing his first Test series in over a year after getting banned for 12 months for his involvement in the Cape Town sandpaper scandal.
But he made a twin hundred at Birmingham to lead Australia's 251-run victory in the first Test and then made another hundred at Lord's in the second Test that ended in a draw.
But Smith missed the third Test at Headingley, Leeds, that England won by a wicket powered by Ben Stokes' heroics. Smith was hit on the back of his head by England pacer Jofra Archer at Lord's leading him to miss the Leeds Test. Australia had also used Marnus Labuschange as a concussion substitute for the first time in Test cricket history at Lord's.
Without Smith in their line-up and with David Warner struggling for runs, especially against Stuart Broad, Aussies found it hard to resist England in the third Test despite bowling out them for 67 in the first innings. But Smith returned for the fourth Test and made an immediate impact cracking a hundred.
Salute a modern day great.