IND vs NZ: Shreyas Iyer reveals Sunil Gavaskar's important advice before Test debut

Shreyas Iyer announced his arrival in Test cricket by hitting a century of 105 runs on debut, during the ongoing India vs New Zealand, first Test match at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. Before the match started on Thursday, Iyer received his debut Test cap from the legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar in the presence of the Indian squad. As Iyer reached his century on Day 2 of the match, he later mentioned the advice given to him by Gavaskar while handing him the Test cap.

During the interview with the official broadcaster of the match, Star Sports, following the second day’s play, Iyer revealed Sunil Gavaskar motivated a great deal. Adding further, Iyer said, “Well he obviously motivated me a lot while giving me the cap. But the words that stayed in my mind were, ‘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.” Following his answer, Gavaskar questioned him about not wearing his debut cap, which left the entire commentary team and Iyer in splits.

Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja added 120+ runs for the fifth wicket partnership

During the first innings of the match, Iyer came into bat at no. 5 for India, following the departure of no. 3 batter Cheteswar Pujara, with skipper Ajinkya Rahane at the other end. Rahane and Iyer added 39 runs for the fourth wicket before Rahane got dismissed and Iyer was joined by Ravindra Jadeja in the middle. Debutant Iyer alongside an experienced Jadeja took charge of the batting innings and added 121 runs for the fifth wicket, as Jadeja returned after scoring 50 runs off 112 balls.

However, Iyer went on to score his maiden Test century in his debut match and became the top scorer for the team by scoring 105 runs off 171  at a strike rate of 61.40. Courtesy of his innings, India reached a respectable total of 345 runs in the first innings, as Tim Southee returned as the top Kiwi wicket-taker with figures of 5/69. Southee removed Jadeja, Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha, and Azar Patel on Day 2, while he dismissed Pujara on Day 1.

(Twitter Image: @BCCI/@ICC)