Steve Smith joins 3 legends in nervous 9990s victim list after missing 10000 Test runs milestone by whisker

Steve Smith and home fans were left frustrated after the player missed a big celebration on Day 2 of the fifth Test between India and Australia in Sydney. Smith was dismissed on 33 runs as he fell just 5 runs short of recording 10,000 Test runs on Saturday.

Smith became the first Australian and fourth overall cricketer to get dismissed in 9990s in Test cricket history. He will become the only fourth Australian after former captains Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting to reach the five-digit figures in Tests and 15th overall in world cricket.

Before Smith's unfortunate dismissal on 9995 runs, only three cricketers Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene and Alastair Cook suffered nervous 9990s heartbreaks. Notably, Lara was dismissed twice in 9990s in Tests and was the first player to achieve this rare unwanted feat in 2004.

Smith chases Rahul Dravid's tally in Sydney Test

Meanwhile, the Australian star now has scored 9,995 runs in just 203 Test innings. If Smith manages to score 5 runs in the second innings of the ongoing Sydney Test, he will become the second-fastest Australian after Ponting to record 10,000 in terms of innings taken. Ponting achieved this feat in just 196 innings in 2008 and was then the third-fastest in the world after Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar who had reached 10000 Test runs in 195 innings.

The 35-year-old Smith will become the fifth-fastest to 10000 runs if he finds 5 runs in his next three innings, which is very likely to happen. Smith will surpass the former Indian captain Rahul Dravid's tally who achieved five-digit figures in Tests in 2008.