Shreyas Iyer becomes first Indian to hit century and fifty on Test debut

Shreyas Iyer, the Indian middle-order batter, who was making his debut in Test cricket in the first Test of the two-match series against New Zealand, has etched his name in the history books by becoming the first Indian to hit a century and a half-century in two innings of the debut Test match. 

Iyer achieved this feat after getting past the fifty run mark in India’s second innings in the first Test at Kanpur. He has also helped India get a crucial 200 run lead, which is important in the context that the Indian team were struggling at 51-5 at one point with all the main batters back in the hut. 

The 26-year-old then struck important partnerships with Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha to get India past 150 on the fourth day. At the time of writing this, the Mumbai batter was batting on 60* and had put on a 59 run partnership for the seventh wicket with Saha. 

Earlier in the game, Iyer had hit a century on debut in the first innings and had become the 16ty Indian batter to achieve that feat. Iyer was drafted into the playing XI only after KL Rahul was withdrawn from the squad at the last moment due to calf strain.