Having recorded his maiden Test century in Kanpur November 26, Shreyas Iyer made it a point to thank his India and Mumbai teammate Suryakumar Yadav for being a pillar of support during his early days at the domestic level.
As Day 2 of the first India-New Zealand Test was brought to a close, Iyer had a chat with Yadav for BCCI.tv and recalled his initial struggles domestically for Mumbai.
Back in 2014, Iyer made his Ranji Trophy debut at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur. The batter expressed his gratitude towards Suryakumar for making sure he is not dropped despite a few indifferent innings at the start of his first-class career.
“Kanpur stadium has been really lucky for me. My debut Ranji season was under Suryakumar’s captainship and I would like to thank him for backing me after my first four innings because I thought I would be out of the team,”
Iyer told his Suryakumar.
Iyer again stressed how “lucky” the ground in Kanpur has been for him, as apart from making his Ranji Trophy debut and scoring his first Test century, the ground has also seen him play multiple good knocks, including in the Indian Premier League for Delhi.
“And then we were kind of in a same situation when we came to Kanpur. We were 20 or 30 for 5 and then I made a 150-run partnership with the tail enders and got to a good position for the team. Even in the IPL, I scored 93 here. So, one of my luckiest cricket grounds I have ever played at.”
There was a strong chance that Iyer wouldn’t have played the Test in Kanpur had Indian selectors opted not to send back-up middle-order bat Hanuma Vihari early to South Africa with the India ‘A’ side and then opener KL Rahul not picked up a thigh strain.
But as good batters do, he made his opportunity count, scoring a defiant hundred in difficult conditions and a tough situation for the team. The batter finished with 105 in India’s total of 345 on a surface, keeping slow and low for the bowlers.
It will be interesting to see if the team management persists with Iyer for the next Test also when regular skipper Virat Kohli returns to the side in Mumbai, starting December 3.
