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.

Most consecutive Test tons against the same opponent

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)