Who scored fastest 7000 runs in Test cricket?

When Australia's number four reached seven in the second innings of the third Test against Pakistan, Smith became the fastest man to 8,000 runs, reaching the milestone in his 151st innings.

Smith eclipsed Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara, who reached the mark in his 152nd innings.

All-time great Sachin Tendulkar rounds out the podium, after the 'Little Master' brought up 8,000 Test runs in his 154th innings in 2002.

Boasting an overall Test batting average of over 60 with 27 centuries, the 32-year-old Smith will have plenty more records in his sight. 

In 2019, Smith became the fastest to 7,000 Test runs in a home Test match against Pakistan.

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The latest milestone for Smith comes despite a recent lean period, by his lofty standards. 

Since the 2019 Ashes series, Smith has scored just one century in his 29 innings prior to the current match in Lahore. 

Among the other Australians to pass 8,000 Test runs, Smith soared past Matthew Hayden (164 innings), Ricky Ponting (165), Michael Clarke (172), Allan Border (184) and Steve Waugh (194).

Steve Smith is the first player to reach 8000 Test runs with an average over 60 (60.1 when he reached 8000). Previous highest: Sobers 59.2. Others to reach 8000 averaging over 55: Tendulkar 57.9; Dravid 57.5; Sangakkara 57.1; Kallis 56.7; Ponting 56.3; Miandad 55.9.

— Andy Zaltzman (@ZaltzCricket) March 24, 2022

During the recently-concluded Ashes series, England captain Joe Root heralded Smith's ability to keep churning out the runs.

"Steve, I think is a brilliant problem solver," Root told cricket.com.au. "He works guys out, he learns how to master each condition and the different surfaces he comes up against.

"If you pose a plan to him, he finds a way to get through it."

Fastest players to 8,000 Test runs

151 innings - Steve Smith (Australia)

152 - Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)

154 - Sachin Tendulkar (India)

157 - Garfield Sobers (West Indies)

158 - Rahul Dravid (India)

Qantas Tour of Pakistan 2022

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Zahid Mahmood.

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.

First Test: Match drawn

March 12-16: Match drawn

March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore

Pakistan ODI and T20 squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafique*, Asif Afridi, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq*, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Zahid Mahmood, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Saud Shakeel*, Shaheen Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir (*ODIs only)

Australia ODI and T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Smith began the match needing just 23 runs to reach the landmark, and in doing so he also moved past another feted number in Australian cricket – the 6,996 Test runs scored by Sir Donald Bradman.

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Since playing his final Test in 1948, Bradman's mark has now been eclipsed by 11 Australians, though none have come close to the cracking pace set by Smith.

The 30-year-old reached 7,000 runs in his 126th Test innings, breaking the world record of 131 innings held by Englishman Wally Hammond, whose brilliant 85-Test career ran through the same era as Bradman's.

In the intervening decades, Indian pair Virender Sehwag (134 inns) and Sachin Tendulkar (136) had come closest to Hammond among the 48 other batsmen to have reached the 7,000-run landmark.

Until Smith.

The Australian, who made one and 12 from No.8 as a leg-spinning allrounder on Test debut in 2010, has established himself in the past six years as the dominant batsman of his era with a stunning 26 hundreds in his past 57 Tests and an average that topped 65 during this year's Ashes.

For context, Bradman's 6,996 runs arrived in just 80 innings, leaving the legendary Australian streets ahead of his nearest rivals.

Fastest to 7,000 Test runs

126 innings – Steve Smith (Aus)

131 – Wally Hammond (Eng)

134 – Virender Sehwag (Ind)

136 – Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

138 – Sir Garfield Sobers (WI), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Virat Kohli (Ind)

140 – Sunil Gavaskar (Ind), Viv Richards (WI)

Among the 11 Australians to have reached 7,000 Test runs, Matthew Hayden (142 inns) and Ricky Ponting (145) are the next quickest to the mark, while Indian Virat Kohli is Smith's nearest contemporary rival, having hit the figure in 138 innings against South Africa last month.

"You hear all sorts of words, 'genius' is one that comes to mind," Ponting told cricket.com.au in September when asked about Smith.

"It's his application to what he does. He just doesn't make any mistakes. His concentration levels are obviously unbelievably good.

"He's got a game plan that's working incredibly well for him to the point where it just looks like teams have no idea how they're going to bowl to him, where they're going to bowl to him, how they're going to get him out.

"Right now, he's on top of his game but he's also got every opposition team exactly where he wants them.

"He's in his early thirties now, he's got four, five, six years of good cricket ahead of him, which if you add it up that's probably another 80, 90 Test matches.

"Then he's played 150 games and could have all sorts of numbers and records by then … he deserves to go down as one of the greats."

Domain Test Series v Pakistan

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Azhar Ali (c), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan Snr, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah.

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