Steve Smith joins exclusive 10,000 Test runs milestone at Galle

Steve Smith has achieved a remarkable feat in cricket, successfully surpassing the 10,000-run mark in his Test career. He only needed a single run to reach this milestone on the first day of Australia's first Test match against Sri Lanka.

Smith decisively pushed off the first ball he faced, hitting a single towards mid-wicket to secure this historic moment. Currently, Smith is captaining Australia in the absence of Pat Cummins, leading a reshuffled lineup against Sri Lanka in Galle for the first of two Test matches.

The 35-year-old becomes the fourth Australian player to reach this milestone, and the 15th overall across all Test-playing nations. The other Australian batsmen to have reached 10,000 Test runs include Ricky Ponting (13,378), Allan Border (11,174), and Steve Waugh (10,927).

Smith reached this milestone in his 115th Test match (second only to Brian Lara) and his 205th innings (behind Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara, and Ponting). He made his Test debut against Pakistan in 2010, scoring 1 and 12 respectively batting low in the order.

Early in his career, Smith was considered a leg-spin bowler, taking three wickets in the fourth innings to help Australia win by 150 runs. His first Test century came in the fifth Test of the 2013 Ashes series against England, scoring an unbeaten 138 in the first innings at the Oval. He followed that up four months later with his first home Test century against England, scoring 111 in the first innings at the WACA.

Prior to the Test series against Sri Lanka, Smith had 34 Test centuries and an average of 55.9. Ponting holds the Australian record for Test centuries with 41 from 168 Tests. In the final innings of the Border-Gavaskar series against India, Smith was dismissed on 9999 career Test runs. On that day, Smith needed just five runs to reach the milestone in front of his home crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Here is the list of players to have reached 10,000 Test runs: 1. Sachin Tendulkar — 15,921; 2. Ricky Ponting — 13,378; 3. Jacques Kallis — 13,289; 4. Rahul Dravid — 13,288; 5. Joe Root — 12,972; 6. Alastair Cook — 12,472; 7. Kumar Sangakkara — 12,400; 8. Brian Lara — 11,953; 9. Shivnarine Chanderpaul — 11,867; 10. Mahela Jayawardene — 11,814; 11. Allan Border — 11,174; 12. Steve Waugh — 10,927; 13. Sunil Gavaskar — 10,122; 14. Younis Khan — 10,099; 15. Steve Smith — 10,000 (still batting).