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Steve Smith Goes Past Virat Kohli, Equals Joe Root At Galle | SL vs AUS 2nd Test, Day 1
Steve Smith Goes Past Virat Kohli, Equals Joe Root At Galle (@ankitprajapatim)

Sri Lanka vs Australia, 2nd Test, Day 1: Former Australia captain Steve Smith went past India great Virat Kohli in terms of centuries during the first day’s play in the second Test against Sri Lanka played at the Galle International Stadium, Galle.

Smith registered his 28th Test century against Sri Lanka that helped Australia take control of the second Test after skipper Pat Cummins decided to bat first on a wicket that was heavily in favour of the batter. Kohli, who hasn’t scored a Test century since October 2019 against Bangladesh, so far has 27 Test centuries, just behind Smith and former England captain Joe Root, who has also scored 28 Test centuries in his career so far.

The former India captain has now slipped to third place among the so-called fab-four consisting of Smith, Root, Kohli and Kane Williamson. The New Zealand captain has 24 Test centuries to his name. With Australia scheduled to play another 9 Test matches this season, chances are Smith will extend that lead by a fair margin.

Kohli has six Test matches this season, four against Australia and a couple of Test matches against Bangladesh to make up for the lost ground in terms of centuries. Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who is still comparatively young in international cricket as compared to the rest in fab four has six Test centuries to his name in 40 Test matches.

With the kind of form Babar Azam has been in the recent past, it might well be fab-five and not fab-four anymore. Pakistan also has big Test season ahead of them this year.