Cricket

'Kuch toh rahem karo' - Fans abuzz as Steve Smith gets to his century in first over of Day 2 in WTC 2021-23 Final

Steve Smith became the second batter to score century in WTC Final on the very first over of Day 2. Here's how fans reacted.

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Daniel S
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Steve Smith, Australia

Steve Smith, Australia (Source: Twitter)

On Thursday, June 8, Steve Smith hit his 31st century in a Test match. The milestone was reached by the right-hander during Australia's World Test Championship (WTC) final match against India at London's Kennington Oval. Smith was undefeated at Stumps on Day 1 of the Test with 95 runs off 227 balls and 14 fours.

After the Australians lost the wickets of Usman Khawaja, David Warner, and Marnus Labuschagne in relatively short succession, he put on an unbroken stand of 251 runs with Travis Head. While Head, his partner, played his shots without hesitation, Smith started out a little slowly. Although Smith finished the day for Australia with a beautiful four through the covers off Mohammed Shami, Head breezed to his hundred as Smith took his time to reach the three-figure mark.

‘Steve Smith is the best Test player of this generation’ – Virat Kohli

Smith, meanwhile, surpassed Ricky Ponting and Virat Kohli on the list of most hundreds in Test matches between Australia and India. Smith has nine hundreds right now from 36 innings across 19 Tests. The record is held by Sachin Tendulkar, who played in 39 Test matches and amassed 11 hundreds, 16 fifties, and the highest score of 241 not out.

Steve Smith has been dubbed the best Test batter of this generation by former India captain Virat Kohli. Prior to the World Test Championship Final, Kohli claimed that Smith stands out among batsmen from the last ten years in the Test format because of his consistency.

"According to me, Steve Smith is the best Test player of this generation. He has displayed that, his adaptability is absolutely brilliant. You take any cricketer of this generation," Kohli said on Star Sports. "Everybody knows his record, in 85-90 Tests, he has an average of 60 which is quite unbelievable. The consistency and impact with which he scores runs, I haven't seen any Test player doing that in last 10 years. It is credit to his skill and temperament," he added.

Here’s how fans reacted to Steve Smith's century:

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