Virat Kohli lauds Shreyas Iyer for century on Test debut in Kanpur: Well played and congratulations

Shreyas Iyer has been the standout thus far for India and regular Test captain Virat Kohli lauded the right-hander for his century. Iyer became the 16th Indian to score a century on Test debut, scoring 105 off 171 balls against New Zealand in the first Test in Kanpur.

“Well played and congratulations @shreyas41 for the century on debut,” Kohli wrote in an Instagram story.

The 26-year-old started the day on 75 and raced to his century within the first 45 minutes of play. He put up a partnership of 122 runs for the fifth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja, who could not add to his overnight total of 50.

Iyer is the third successive Mumbai player after Rohit Sharma and Prithvi Shaw slam a hundred on Test debut. (Virat Kohli Instagram)

Lala Amarnath, Deepak Shodhan, AG Kripal Singh, Abbas Ali Baig, Hanumant Singh, Gundappa Vishwanath, Surender Amarnath, Mohammad Azharuddin, Pravin Amre, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Prithvi Shaw are the other 15 Indian batsmen to have scored a hundred on their Test debut before Iyer, who received his maiden Test cap from India and Mumbai batting great Sunil Gavaskar.

Another stalwart of Mumbai, Sachin Tendulkar, also congratulated Iyer, who was named captain of the team in the 2018 Ranji Trophy season.

“Great start to your Test career, @ShreyasIyer15. Nice to see you as a part of #TeamIndia in ‘whites’. Good luck!” Tendulkar tweeted.

Great start to your Test career, @ShreyasIyer15.

Nice to see you as a part of #TeamIndia in ‘whites’.
Good luck! #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/O1ZNlnotLA

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) November 26, 2021

Iyer is the third successive Mumbai player after Rohit Sharma and Prithvi Shaw slam a hundred on Test debut. He is also the sixth Indian after Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Prithvi Shaw to hit a ton on Test debut in this century.

Iyer eventually got out for 105 off 171 balls after having batted for 267 minutes. His knock included 13 fours and a couple of towering sixes.

India managed to add 87 runs to their overnight total before getting bowled out for 345 in the second session. Iyer top-scored for the hosts while Shubman Gill (52), Ravindra Jadeja (50) and Ravichandran Ashwin (38) made useful contributions to the team’s total.