Among Aussies, only former captain Ricky Ponting has crossed the milestone quicker in only 196 innings. Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Kumar Sangakkara lead the charts, with the trio having reached the 10,000th Test run in the 195th innings of their respective careers.

No batter in Test history has plundered runs quite like Smith has in his prime. After playing the first 10 innings of his career at No. 6-9, Smith marked his return to the Aussie Test side as a designated middle-order bat, starting in India in 2013. His first innings at No. 5 was a 185-ball 92 in Mohali. While he had settled in with a few reputable knocks, it was not until 2014 that Smith began his world domination.

Starting his 32nd innings against England with a 154-ball 115 in Sydney in the 2014 New Year’s Test, Smith amassed 6,257 runs over 100 consecutive innings at a 71.92 average. The peak is undisputed in Test history and bore 24 centuries over a six-year period that ended in January 2020.

His range of hundreds in this period also acts as a microcosm in encapsulating the typical Smith trait of Test match-batting – setting up games with first-innings hundreds. Earlier this month, Smith one short of the milestone run during the Sydney Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Aussie No. 4 thereby became only the third batter to have been dismissed stranded on 9999.

Fastest to 10,000 Test runs (innings)
195 = Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Kumar Sangakkara
196 – Ricky Ponting
205* – Steve Smith
206 – Rahul Dravid