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  5. 'All I could picture was Hazlewood's shirt number': Steve Smith on being stuck on 9,999 Test runs

'All I could picture was Hazlewood's shirt number': Steve Smith on being stuck on 9,999 Test runs

Australian Test vice-captain Steve Smith got out twice in nervous 9,990s as he failed to notch up the 10,000 milestone during the Sydney encounter against India. Smith opened up on getting stuck on 9,999 as he will now get the opportunity to get to the landmark in Sri Lanka at the end of the month.

Edited By: Anshul Gupta @oyegupta_ New Delhi Published : Jan 15, 2025 13:11 IST, Updated : Jan 15, 2025 13:11 IST
Steve Smith got stuck on 9,999 runs after getting dismissed
Image Source : GETTY Steve Smith got stuck on 9,999 runs after getting dismissed on 33 and 4 in two innings in the final Test against India

Steve Smith, the Australian Test superstar might be kicking himself for not getting to the 10,000 Test run mark during the Sydney clash against India as he admitted that it was playing on his mind before the series decider but was glad that his side ended up winning the game and eventually the series. Smith revealed that he was picturing Josh Hazlewood's jersey number (38) since he required 38 runs to get to the milestone in Sydney but got out twice in the nervous 9,990s.

"I don’t read too much into stats and stuff, but 10,000 is a bit of a different beast. It probably was (on my mind), to be honest. Normally I sort of don’t buy into any of that stuff, but pre-game, I was doing lots of media because I was approaching that mark,” Smith said on radio talk show SEN 1170 Breakfast.

"I knew I needed 38, and all I could actually picture trying to sleep at night was the back of Josh Hazlewood’s shirt because he’s number 38 (laughs). It’s strange like that, isn’t it?” Smith joked.

Now that he is the captain of the Test team for the Sri Lankan tour, Smith mentioned that the one run he needs would be the first thing he would want to get done with, in Galle while ruing the fact that he missed the opportunity to do it in front of his friends and family.

"It was probably playing on my mind more than any other game that I’ve played, to be honest. But, it is what it is, fortunately, we were able to win that game in the end, so it didn’t really matter. I’d love to tick it off on the first day in Galle. It would have been great to have been able to do it in Sydney in front of all my friends and family because you’re joining a pretty elite group there I suppose, but it wasn’t to be," he added.

Smith smashed a couple of centuries in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to get back into some much-needed Test form and ahead of the the Sri Lanka series and the World Test Championship final, the team will hope that he can keep going on.

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