Ashes 2017: Steve Smith goes past Sachin Tendulkar, becomes third fastest to reach 22nd Test hundred

Steve Smith has scored two centuries in the ongoing Ashes Test series against England. (Reuters)

“Just a tremendous knock from a tremendous player, Steve Smith. He is a class above everybody else… probably Virat Kohli is one who is challenging Steve Smith for no.1 Test batsman in the world…”

The commentator said as the Australian captain went on to score his 22nd Test century on the third day of the third Ashes Test against England in Perth. It was a display of solid batting performance from the skipper. In an innings comprising of 19 fours and a massive six off Stuart Broad, Smith displayed some of the best batting techniques in world class cricket. The 28-year old reached the three figures in just 138 balls, the fastest ton of his Test career.

With the achievement, he also went past the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar to become the third fastest player to reach 22nd Test hundreds. While Tendulkar had taken 114 innings to do so, Smith has done it in 108. The other two players who reached the milestone in fewer innings than Smith are Sir Don Bradman (58) and Sunil Gavaskar (101).

Steven Peter Devereux Smith. Can bat.#Ashes #MagellanMilestones pic.twitter.com/vwToKN00X3

— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) 16 December 2017

That is just one of the many records Smith has produced on Saturday. He also completed his 1000 runs in 2017 in the longest format, becoming the only player other than former Australian opener Matthew Hayden to do so in four consecutive years in a row. In this series, it is the skipper’s second century. He scored his first one in Adelaide, in 241 balls, which was the slowest ton of his career. Smith has been in excellent form in the series, and has already scored 326* runs in 4 innings at an average of 163.

What a player Steve Smith. Doesn’t look like he’s going to get out. Does he 😳 Well played #Ashes

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) 16 December 2017

It almost seems impossible to get him out the way Smith has batted in the morning session, and England will be hoping to get his wicket as soon as possible after Lunch. On the back of his performance, Australia reached 314/4 by the close of the first session and are currently trailing 89 runs behind Australia.