Shreyas Iyer reveals Sunil Gavaskar's special advice ahead of his Test debut: 'That stayed in my mind'
The only highlight for India in an otherwise disappointing day was debutant Shreyas Iyer's 105-run knock as he joined the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag in an elite list
On an otherwise disappointing day for India on Friday at the Green Park, Shreyas Iyer became the 16th Indian batsman to score a century on Test debut joining the likes of former captain Sourav Ganguly and his IPL teammate Prithvi Shaw. His 105 helped India finish with 345 on the second morning of the opening Test. At the end of day's play, Iyer revealed what legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar told him while presenting the debut Test cap on Thursday morning.
"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.
Iyer also revealed that he could not get a good night sleep on the day before his century. He was on 75 at stumps on day 1 after India opted to bat first.
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"I was really happy with the way everything went right from day one. 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. I wasn't able to sleep well at all, got up early at five today morning but when you make a century, it's a wonderful feeling," he said.
Iyer also cautioned India not to concede many runs on day 3 as the pitch is beginning the wear out. New Zealand openers Tom Latham and Will Young stitched an unbeaten 129-run stand with both hittinhg their respectice half-centuries as they became the first visiting opening pair in five years to score a century stand in India against India and seventh from New Zealand. Latham also became the first New Zealand batsman to be part of two century opening stand in India against India, having earlier been part of such a partnership alongside Martin Guptill in October 2016.
"They got off to a good start obviously but it's important for us to not leak runs because the cracks are opening up and it should get trickier tomorrow," Iyer said.
New Zealand now trail by 216 runs in Kanpur.