Former India head coach Ravi Shastri lavished praise on Australia batter Steve Smith after crossing the 10,000-run mark during the first Test match against Sri Lanka. With this Smith becomes the fourth Australian batter to reach this milestone after Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting and the fifth cricketer in the world to do so.
Shastri believes that Smith knows how to adapt to different conditions as he got a hundred in India on a rank turner.
“I’ve seen all these hundreds as a coach and as a broadcaster and he’s a special player. He’s so passionate about the game. What amazes me is how he’s prepared to adapt to different conditions. He got a hundred on a rank turner in India, which was special. And even when he’s not at his best, he finds ways to get into positions to score runs. When you’re around for that length of time, there are teams analysing you, there are video analysts looking at every part of your technique. And then to still be able to be ahead of the curve — and he will average over 55 — at the age of 35, to go past 10,000 runs is special. So I think he’s a great player,” Shastri told Fox Cricket.
Smith who was part of Australia's Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 squad was on 9999 runs before Sri Lanka Test series. He achieved the feat right before lunch on day one of the Test match, easily knocking Prabath Jayasuriya towards long-on for a single to bring up the milestone.
Coming back to the match, Steve Smith is currently playing on 64 runs and Usman Khawaja is playing on 119 runs at tea. Australia are currently dominating hosts at Galle International Stadium in Galle.