Steve Smith joins elite club by scoring 5 consecutive Test tons against India

Pune: Australia captain Steve Smith played an odds defying innings of 109 in the second innings against India in the first Test to lead his team to a comprehensive 333-run victory over the hapless hosts.

The 27-year-old batsman has made 1066 runs against India in a mere seven Tests at an average of 88.83. Smith’s gritty ton allowed Australia to set India a mammoth target of 441. It was Smith’s fifth consecutive Test century against India, the batsman had scored four centuries in each of the four Test matches of the last series played between India and Australia Down Under.

With the century, Smith has now joined a special list of batsmen to have scored five consecutive tons against the same opponent. The list includes Sir Don Bradman, Neil Harvey, Shoaib Mohammad and Jacques Kallis.

Bradman occupies the top spot in the list for scoring six consecutive tons against England during the 1937/38 season. The other four batsmen have each scored five consecutive Test centuries.

Australian batsmen Harvey registered the record against South Africa, while Pakistan Shoaib did it against New Zealand.

South African All-rounder Kallis made four consecutive centuries against West Indies in the 2003/04 series at home, before scoring the fifth one in the 2005 series at Gerogetown.