“Needed to get to a competitive total”: Shreyas Iyer gives reason behind India’s delayed declaration in Kanpur Test

Shreyas Iyer: The Indian batter became the only Indian cricketer to score a century and half-century in debut Test today.

After failing in his first three first-class innings, India batter Shreyas Iyer had scored a maiden half-century in his fourth innings.

Iyer, who thanked the then Mumbai captain and current India teammate Suryakumar Yadav for backing him despite initial failures in a post-match discussion uploaded on BCCI’s website yesterday, had walked in to bat at 53/5 before scoring an amazingly stroke-filled 75 (78) with the help of 11 fours in Kanpur.

Seven years down the line at the same venue, Iyer walked in to bat in difficult situations in both innings of his Test debut scoring a century and half-century to become the first-ever Indian batter to do so on debut.

“I have been in these situations before, but not with the Indian team. I used to do this [for Mumbai] in Ranji games. The idea was to play session by session,” Iyer was quoted as saying by host broadcaster Star Sports after play finished on Day 4 of the ongoing first Test against New Zealand.

Shreyas Iyer gives reason behind India’s delayed declaration in Kanpur Test

Acknowledging the importance of the milestone, a matured Iyer laid emphasis on winning the match and not being satisfied with a personal milestone. The 26-year old player also revealed advice received by head coach Rahul Dravid before walking in to bat with his team in trouble.

“Yeah, I knew about it. When I came back, one of my teammates told me about it. Many others have done it from other teams but I was told I am the first from India. It feels good but the most important thing is to win the match.

“Rahul [Dravid, head coach] sir said that I need to stay out in the middle for as much as possible and build on the score. I thought 250-odd including the lead was more than enough on this wicket, and fortunately we got some more,” Iyer said.

India, who declared their innings on 234/7 after playing 81 overs, gave the visitors a 284-run target. Since such a target has never been chased in a Test match in India, commentators and a segment of fans accused India of late declaration. Being asked about the same, Iyer highlighted the need of a “competitive total” against a strong team such as New Zealand.

“To be honest, there wasn’t much happening on the wicket. We needed to get to a competitive total, maybe around 275-280, and we have spin power. We have to have faith on our spinners and know they can really put them under pressure on the final day,” Iyer concluded.