Stats: Steven Smith joins elite club of five consecutive Test tons against same opponent
The sight of Steven Smith’s unique stance and swerving blade should be quite sickening for the Indian bowlers. The 27-year old Australian batsman has plundered a whopping 1066 runs from 7 Tests against India at a jaw-dropping average of 88.83 including five centuries and three fifties.
With his spectacular 109 in the second innings of the opening Test in Pune, the skipper joined an exclusive club of batsmen to have scored five consecutive hundreds against the same opponent. Prior to his match-winning ton in unfamiliar terrain, the right-hander had scored a century in each of the four Tests against India in the 2014/15 home series(Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney).
Aside from making Indian bowlers become an unwanted part of history, Smith was just the fifth batsman to achieve the feat of five successive Test tons against the same opponent. He entered a rare club also featuring Sir Don Bradman, Neil Harvey, Shoaib Mohammad and Jacques Kallis.
While Bradman sits on top of the list with as many as six straight tons against England during the 1937/38 season, the other four have scored five consecutive centuries. The great man could have even added to his collection had he not injured his ankle in the timeless Test at The Oval.
One of Australian cricket’s household names, Harvey followed his bumper away series against South Africa in 1949 with a 109 in Brisbane in the 1952 series. Following scores of 11 and 60 in the second Test in Melbourne, the left-hander went on to register a century each in the next three matches.
Pakistan’s Shoaib Mohammad, son of the original ‘Little Master’ Hanif, had a special liking for New Zealand’s bowling attack. His exploits varied from the seam-friendly conditions of Wellington and Auckland to the flat pitches of Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad.
South African giant Kallis smashed West Indies for four hundreds in the 2003/04 home series before continuing the sequence in the 2005 Georgetown Test. Although he scored another ton in the fourth Test in Antigua, the law of averages had caught up with him in the preceding two matches.
Extra Cover: Top-ranked Steve Smith reaches career-high rating after Pune Test
If he reaches three figures in the second Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Smith will equal Bradman’s feat of six straight tons against the same opponent. Looking at his recent form and affinity for Indian bowlers, there is every chance of him breaking a few more records in the remaining matches.
| Batsman | Opponent | Century #1 | Century #2 | Century #3 | Century #4 | Century #5 | Century #6 | Year |
| Sir Don Bradman | England | 270 in Melbourne | 169 in Melbourne | 144 in Nottingham | 102 in London (Lord’s) | 212 in Leeds | 103 in Leeds | 1937-38 |
| Neil Harvey | South Africa | 178 in Cape Town | 151* in Durban | 100 in Johannesburg | 116 in Port Elizabeth | 109 in Brisbane | ____ | 1949-52 |
| Shoaib Mohammad | New Zealand | 163 in Wellington | 112 in Auckland | 203* in Karachi | 105 in Lahore | 142 in Faisalabad | ____ | 1989-90 |
| Jacques Kallis | West Indies | 158 in Johannesburg | 177 in Durban | 130* in Cape Town | 130* in Centurion | 109* in Georgetown | ____ | 2003-05 |
| Steven Smith | India | 162* in Adelaide | 133 in Brisbane | 192 in Melbourne | 117 in Sydney | 109 in Pune | ____ | 2014-17 |
(**Note: All Statistics are accurate as of 26th February, 2017)