Centurian on his Test debut, Shreyas Iyer could not have dreamt of a better start to his red-ball career. Coming into bat when every Indian batsman failed to convert their starts, Shreyas Iyer showed incredible maturity to score 105 runs off 171 balls on Day 2 of the first Test match between India and New Zealand.
He scored runs at a healthy strike rate of 61.40 and helped put in a decent first innings total of 345 runs.
Ahead of the game, Iyer was presented with his India cap by none other than legendary Sunil Gavaskar who had a chat with him pre-game.
Iyer revealed on official broadcasters Star Sports what Gavaskar said on the day and termed it as motivational.
“He obviously motivated me a lot while giving the cap. The words that stayed in my mind was that ‘you don’t look ahead too much, you don’t look at your past, but you stay in the present and think about the next ball.’ And that’s what I was doing when I went into the wicket.”
Iyer, a household name due to his Indian Premier League exploits with the Delhi Capitals has made a strong case for himself for the tumultuous Indian middle-order, a position that has had strong debates over the past year.
Many have been of the view that the old guard of captain Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara has to make way for the new generation of aggressive cricketers who can score runs at a rapid rate while protecting their wickets.
Iyer, an injury substitute to KL Rahul, certainly will spark the debate once again going ahead of the South Africa series scheduled to take place in December.