Steve Smith scripts history in Sri Lanka; joins Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting in elite 10000-club

Steve Smith became the 15th batter in history of cricket to complete 10000 runs in Test cricket on day 1 of the first Test between Australia and Sri Lanka on Tuesday in Galle. The stylish right-hander could have gotten to the milestone against India in the fifth Test in Sydney earlier this month, but was stranded on 9999 runs.

Coming into bat after the departure of Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith flicked left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya for a single towards mid-on to reach his milestone in his 205th innings. In the process, the stand-in-captain also became the fifth-fastest batter to reach 10000 Test runs in the list which includes greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting and more.

Steve Smith also became the second fastest Australian to reach 10000 Test runs after Ricky Ponting, who completed the milestone in 196 innings. The trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Kumar Sangakkara lead the charts who completed the feat in 195 innings each.

In fact, Steve Smith also became the fourth Australian after Allan Border, Steve Smith and Ricky Ponting to reach the coveted milestone. Legendary Sunil Gavaskar was the first batter to reach 10000 Test runs.

Fastest batters to reach 10k Test runs (by innings)

195 - Sachin Tendulkar

195 - Brian Lara

195 - Kumar Sangakkara

196 - Ricky Ponting

205 - Steve Smith

206 - Rahul Dravid

Earlier, Australia won the toss and decided to bat first. Josh Inglis was making his Test debut for Australia, which opted to play three spin bowlers - Matt Kuhnemann, Todd Murphy and Nathan Lyon.

Travis Head opened the batting for Australia, replacing Sam Konstas. Steve Smith is captaining the side in the absence of Pat Cummins, who is on paternity leave.

Australia vs England 1st Test playing XIs

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Oshada Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (captain), Kusal Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Nishan Peiris, Asitha Fernando, Jeffrey Vandersay.

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (captain), Josh Inglis, Beau Webster, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Matt Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy.