Steve Smith Surpasses Virat Kohli to Achieve Record Feat During 1st Ashes Test Between England and Australia at Edgbaston; Fans Unreasonably Troll India Captain | SEE POSTS
The odds were against him, the crowd was at his hostile best and the atmosphere was nothing less than extremely demanding but Steve Smith conquered all the negatives and emerged as the winner at the historic Edgbaston. In his comeback Test for Australia in white flannels, Smith played the knock of his life to shun every critic and mouth who were questioning his ability to perform in cricket’s most challenging format after the infamous ball-tampering ban.
Coming in to bat at number four, the former world number one Test batsman showed no signs of rustiness and conjured up his 24th hundred to deny England the honours on day one of the Ashes Test. During his magnificent knock, Smith surpassed the likes of Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar to score 24 Test centuries in the fewest number of innings. Smith took 118 Test innings to reach the landmark headed by the legendary Sir Donald Bradman (66 innings).
I reckon,
Not Virat Kohli…but Steve Smith is the best test batsman in the world cricket.@stevesmith49#ENGvAUS #Ashes— Smit Hapani (@SmitHapani) August 1, 2019
Can virat Kohli be the Steve Smith of India when it matters the most? #Ashes
— Charchit Jain (@chichijain) August 1, 2019
Missed you for almost one year in test Steve smith! You are legend in test of this generation! Sorry @imVkohli and Kane….@ICC #ENGvsAUS
— meghashyam (@meghameghashyam) August 1, 2019
Scores in World Cup knockout matches:
Virat Kohli – 24, 9, 35, 3, 1, 1.
Steve Smith – 65, 105, 56*, 85.#CWC19— Naqi Hussain🇵🇰🦍🏴🇬🇧 (@Naqi_786) July 30, 2019
Virat kohli see his test ranking
When steve smith batting in 1st test#Ashes #ashes2019 #AUSvENG #ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/Zmg61Fasef— voiceless (@opppop45) August 1, 2019
Fewest innings to 24th Test 100
66 – Don Bradman
118 – Steve Smith
123 – Virat Kohli
125 – Sachin Tendulkar
128 – Sunil Gavaskar#Ashes#EngvAus#AusvsEng— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) August 1, 2019
Steve Smith is playing his Pune-type knock at Edgbaston.👍#Ashes #ENGvAUS #AusvsEng
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) August 1, 2019
Big fan of Virat Kohli, but have to say Steve Smith is better test batsman than Kohli. This century was class. Crowd booing at Smith continuously but he silenced everyone by his bat.#ENGvAUS #TheAshes
— Prashant Ranjan (@prashant_minku) August 1, 2019
In the past 15 months since his ball-tampering ban, Smith has taken a lot of strides on both personal and professional level. Unfortunately, those idiosyncratic, quirky elements in his game were not part of the 30-year-old’s personal growth. He left the game as an obsessive, manic, over-analyser and he returns every bit the unique cricketer that emerged as the best batsman in the world.
In the first Ashes Test, England seamers Stuart Broad (4/38) and Chris Woakes (3/35) maintained their good show with the ball in the afternoon session as the hosts reduced Australia to 154/8 at tea on the first day of the first Ashes Test. With Australian wickets falling a pack of cards, it was Smith who kept one end under control with his valiant unbeaten knock of 66, his 25th half-century in Test cricket.
Resuming the second session from 83/3, the visitors could manage 71 runs but lost five wickets, thanks to some lethal bowling by Woakes and Broad. After six overs in the second session in which Australia had added 16 runs, Woakes trapped Travis Head in front of the wicket. There was no stopping Woakes, who soon dismissed new man Matthew Wade (1) in similar fashion with just 105 runs on board in the 35th over.
A wounded lion is still fiercer than a strong wolf , Take a bow champ pic.twitter.com/hMIsPp66zH
— srikanth (@srikanth_mahi) August 1, 2019
Steve Smith is making this look easy 👏
He’s 131* with Australia 267-9.
📻 Listen to @bbctms on @5liveSport
📱 Live text with in-play highlights 👉 https://t.co/uodUnJ0I7N#bbccricket #ENGvAUS #Ashes pic.twitter.com/3CTIfP5Cyv— Test Match Special (@bbctms) August 1, 2019
Broad then joined the party and dismissed skipper Tim Paine (5) cheaply. The Australian wicketkeeper’s mistimed pull landed safely in the hands of Rory Burns at deep square-leg.
As wickets kept falling for Australia, it was Smith who kept the scoreboard ticking. After Paine’s dismissal, the English bowlers didn’t have to work hard as they easily got rid of James Pattinson (0) and Pat Cummins (5), who were both caught plumb in front of the wicket by Broad and Ben Stokes, respectively, leaving the visitors reeling at 122/8.
Smith was then joined by Peter Siddle, who showed some resistance with the bat as the former notched up his half-century in the 47th over. Smith kept on facing the England bowlers courageously to help his team touch the 150-run mark in the 52nd over. The duo shared an unbeaten 32-run stand for the ninth wicket which saw Australia averting an early all-out in day one.