‘Hurt a little bit…’: Steve Smith finally opens up about the missed opportunity to reach 10,000 runs in Test cricket

Smith opens up on not reaching 10,000 Test runs

Australian batting star Steve Smith missed out on reaching 10,000 runs in Test cricket by a single run as he got dismissed during the fifth Test match of the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. Smith was suffering through a low point in his batting, but got his rhythm back with the bat during the five-match Test series against India.

Smith failed to score runs in the first two Tests, but made a comeback in the third Test as he scored a century. Though he secured two centuries in BGT, he missed out on a massive milestone as he could not manage to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket. Smith got dismissed by Prasidh Krishna during the final innings of the series in Sydney.

If Smith had luck on his side and had not gotten dismissed, he might have reached the achievement, which would have made him fourth Australian player to reach the landmark after batting legends Allan Border, Steve Waugh, and Ricky Ponting.

As he spoke on Fox Sports, Smith stated that it was good even though he could not reach the desired milestone, as they got the result that they desired before the Big Bash league (BBL) match between his team Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers.

“It is all good (not getting 10,000 Test runs). We got the desired result in the end, and that was the main thing,” he said.

“One run hurt a little bit at the time, but it’s all good. It would have been nice to tick that off in front of all my friends and family at my home ground, but hopefully, I can knock it off first innings in Galle,” he added.

Smith stated that even though he is not about chasing milestones, this specific milestone was still wandering on his mind during the game. He also reasoned why 10,000 Test runs is a special milestone.

“I think it’s a different story with 10,000 because there have only been a handful that have done it. It just shows the longevity in the game and the consistency over a long period of time. It will be a cool one to tick off,” he concluded.

After winning the Test series against India, Australian team is schedule to play two Test matches against Sri Lanka. Steve Smith himself is going to be the captain of the team for these matches as the regular skipper Pat Cummins is going to be absent from the team.