Century on Test debut is the ‘biggest achievement’ of my life, reckons Shreyas Iyer

By
Babita Sarkar
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Kanpur: Shreyas Iyer, who stunned one and all with his maiden Test century in the ongoing Test between India and New Zealand in Kanpur labelled his inclusion and his debut century on as the ‘biggest achievement’ of his life.

Iyer made 105 from 171 balls at the strike rate of 61.4 on his debut Test. His innings of 105 was laced with 13 boundaries and two sixes. He was unbeaten on 75 at stumps on Day 1.

On second day, he added 30 runs to his overnight score of 75 and carried on the confidence and notched his maiden Test century and got his name etched in the history of Indian cricket. He became the 16th Indian batter to score a century on debut.

Iyer revealed that he could not get a good sleep last night thinking about his maiden Test hundred. “It’s a great feeling and how everything panned out, I was happy but not satisfied for the manner I got out,” Iyer said after the end of second days match.

“I was really happy with the way everything went right from day one. Couldn’t get a good sleep last night. Especially when you are batting overnight, I thought I batted really well yesterday but had to still focus again today,” Iyer said after the end of the second day’s play.

Shreyas wasn’t worried about whether or not he would keep his spot in the team once the rested players come back, and when he would get to play again.

“When Sunil Gavaskar gave me the cap, he told me an important point: ‘You don’t have to think about your past, you don’t have to think about your future. All you’ve got is present and you’ve got to focus on the next ball.’ That’s what I’ve been doing throughout. My aim is to think about today and not what will happen in the next game,” Shreyas said.

Iyer stated that it was like a fairytale for him to get the cap from the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. The right-hand batsman further revealed that Gavaskar had advised him to focus on the present.

“It was like a fairytale to get the cap from Sunil sir. I never thought I would be getting a cap from Sunil sir. I obviously thought Rahul sir would hand me the cap, but both are legends of the game and I would have been happy had anyone of the two given the cap to me. It’s a great feeling, the way everything panned out but not satisfied the way I got out,” he said.

Shreyas also revealed that ex-Mumbai coach Praveen Amre, who coached him in his early days oversaw the blossoming of the batter in the Ranji Trophy,  had asked him to treat him to dinner only if a century had been scored. He fulfilled the condition of the former India player by scoring a hundred on Test debut.

“Whenever I go for training, Praveen sir keeps on saying that ‘you’ve achieved a lot in your life, been the captain of the IPL team, scored so many runs but that was in white-ball cricket, but your main achievement would be when you receive the Test cap.’ I’m sure he would be really happy when I received it. He was like: ‘I’d only come to your place for dinner if you score a century.’ So after today, I have to message him and invite him for dinner.” he concluded.

After India were bowled out for 345, New Zealand openers Will Young and Tom Latham smashed brilliant half-centuries, taking the Kiwis to a commanding score of 129/0 at stumps on Day 2.

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