1st Test: Shreyas Iyer got this advice from Sunil Gavaskar ahead of debut

Shreyas Iyer on Friday became the 16th Indian to score a century on his Test debut, acheiving the feat during the second day’s play in the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur. 

The 26-year-old joined an elite list when he reached three figures at the Green Park Stadium, alongside the likes of Lala Amarnath, Gundappa Viswanath, Virender Sehwag, head coach Rahul Dravid and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly among others.  

Iyer received his cap from batting legend Sunil Gavaskar ahead of the opening day’s play on Thursday, something he said was incredible in itself. He also received some words of advice from the former opener. 

“He (Sunil Gavaskar) motivated me a lot while giving me the cap but the one thing he told me that stayed in my mind is, ‘don’t look too far ahead and just enjoy yourself’,” Iyer said in his post-match comments after the second day’s play. 

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“I obviously thought Rahul Dravid sir will present me with the debut Test cap, I was not expecting to receive it from Sunil Gavaskar sir. Both are legends of the game, either of them would have given me the cap, I would have been happy.”

He also said he couldn’t get any sleep on on after getting his maiden half-century on Day 1. “Couldn’t get good sleep last night. Especially when you are batting overnight, I thought I batted really well yesterday but had to still focus again today. Got up early at five today morning but when you make a century, it’s a wonderful feeling.”

Iyer top-scored for India with 105 from 171 deliveries, including 13 fours and two sixes, helping the hosts get to 345. Overall, New Zealand have had the better of the match so far, with Tim Southee taking his 13th Test fifer to restrict the hosts before openers Tom Latham (50*) and Will Young (75*) dominated the Indian bowlers to put the visitors in a commanding position. 

New Zealand were 129 for no loss at Stumps, trailing India by 216 runs.