By Niharika Raina Kanpur, Nov 26th : , India’s ShreyasIyer scored his maiden Test century during Friday’s second day of the Test against New Zealand at Green Park Stadium here.Iyer reached this milestone with two runs run through Kyle Jamieson, point off pacer.
Iyer, who was awarded his Test cap by Sunil Gavaskar, reached Test century in 157 balls.This added 25 runs to his overnight score 75 off 138 balls.
He also had 12 fours and two sixes.Iyer was out on 105 after he hit a drive to cover Tim Southee in his 97th over.
He saw India in trouble at 145/4 and walked in when India was at 106/3.Iyer has steered the Indian team to become the 16th Indian batsman (10th at home) and to reach a century in Test debut.
He was also the second Indian batsman to score a Test hundred in Kanpur, after Gundappa Viswanath against Australia in 1969.Day two of the ongoing Test began with Iyer hitting a flick through deep middle-wicket.
He then went on to hit four boundaries to reach his maiden Test century, which he achieved in the 92nd over.
His fellow Mumbaikar Prithvi Sharma was the last India batsman to score a century in Test debut 2018, scoring 134 against West Indies at Rajkot.
Iyer now has a hat trick of Mumbai batters and is the third Test cricketer to score a debut century for India, following Shaw (2013 against West Indies) and Rohit Sharma (2013 versus West Indies).
Although Iyer made a risky start by getting off the mark against Ajaz Patel’s left-arm spinner, he showed class and confidence while taking on the pressure and then launching himself towards the New Zealand bowlers.
Iyer joins the elite club of Indian cricketers who score Test century on debut.This includes Lala Amarnath and Deepak Shodhan, AG Kripal Singh and Abbas Ali Baig.
It has been an interesting year for Iyer.He missed a lot of international cricket, IPL, and was ruled out from the Royal London One-Day Cup appearance for Lancashire because of a dislocated shoulder sustained while fielding during the first Test against England at Pune on March 23.
He returned to competitive cricket in the second half IPL 2021 in Dubai and was named a travelling reserve in India’s squad for the T20 World Cup.
Iyer posted a video to his Instagram account on Tuesday after his second Test call-up.He shared images of his treatment, and then showed photos of a photoshoot wearing Test jerseys.It will be a memorable debut for Iyer.
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