Steve Smith became the 'Catch King' of Test cricket, created history by defeating Joe Root, made a new world record

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SA vs AUS: Steve Smith has created history on the third day of the first Test match being played between Australia and South Africa in Durban. Showing leopard-like speed on the field, he has created a new world record for taking the most number of catches in Test cricket. Now he has become the number-1 player in the history of Test cricket who has taken the most number of catches as a fielder in the world. He has left Joe Root behind in this matter.

Steve Smith wins number 1 crown by defeating Joe Root

Before the start of this match, the record of taking the most catches in Test cricket was held in the name of England's legendary batsman Joe Root. Root has taken a total of 220 catches. In such a situation, Steve Smith needed only 2 catches to leave him behind. In the Durban Test, Smith first equalized Root by taking the catch of South African captain Temba Bavuma off the ball of spinner Nathan Lyon. Immediately after this, he made a brilliant dive in the slip off the ball of fast bowler Pat Cummins and took an excellent catch of David Bedingham (49 runs). With this 221st catch, he left Joe Root behind and became the world's number-1 fielder. On the same day, he took another brilliant catch of Kyle Verrey, taking his total number of catches in Test cricket to 222.

Top 5 most successful fielders in test history (non-wicketkeeper))

• Steve Smith (Australia): He has achieved the first position in the world by taking maximum 222 catches in 126 Test matches.
• Joe Root (England): He has now slipped to second position with 220 catches in 169 Test matches.
• Rahul Dravid (India): Dravid, known as the Indian Wall, has taken 210 catches in 164 Test matches and is in third place.
• Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka): This legendary Sri Lankan player has taken a total of 205 catches in his name in 149 Test matches.
• Jacques Kallis (South Africa): Kallis, one of the world's greatest all-rounders, has taken 200 catches in 166 Test matches.

Flop with the bat, but Smith turned the match with fielding

In the first innings of the Durban Test, Steve Smith could not do anything special with the bat and was out after scoring only 25 runs, but he made up for it with his fielding. In the first two days of the match, Australia scored 390 runs on the basis of Matt Renshaw's historic inning of 190 runs. On the third day, Steve Smith changed the fate of the match with his amazing fielding. Smith, who was adept at slip and gully, took many brilliant catches one after the other, due to which half of the South African team returned to the pavilion very cheaply.

Steve Smith's agility and ability to sense the ball in and around the slips has always been excellent. Steve Smith, who has taken more than 350 catches in international cricket, once again showed that he is not only the great batsman of today's era, but is also the best fielder in the history of Test cricket.

Also read: Before the New Zealand series, Team India's stars failed in Ranji Trophy, Jaiswal out for zero, KL Rahul also lost his sweat.

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