Indian batter Shreyas Iyer revealed Shubman Gill’s words a day before he became the 16th Indian cricketer to hit a century on his Test debut against New Zealand last year.
Iyer also revealed that he didn’t expect to get his first call-up to the Indian team for the home series against New Zealand. The right-hander further said that it was a totally different feeling to receive his debut cap from Sunil Gavaskar and then join the elite list of players who smashed a hundred on their Test debut.
Shreyas Iyer said on The Bombay Journey YouTube Show presented by Mashable India: “I got a call-up right after the T20 World Cup for the series against New Zealand. The T20Is did not go as well as I had planned because I was coming to bat in the last 2-3 overs and I was getting out going for the big shots from ball one. Then I got selected for the Tests, which I wasn't expecting at that time.”
He continued, “The players were already there so even though I had performed to be there in the team I wasn't expecting the call-up. I was prepared in my mind that whatever will happen, I am going to take it heads up, I'll be in my high spirits. I'll take it like a boss.
So, I did my preparations well and ticked all the boxes before the game. Shubman Gill told me 'agar tune kal 100 maar diya, toh aisa aisa hoga...(If you score a 100 tomorrow, different things will happen with you' and all that. I don't remember what we were talking about. And next day when I started, I had a feeling like it's written. The next day, I completed it in 2 overs by hitting four boundaries.”
Iyer, in his maiden outing for India in whites, had scored 105 off 171 balls in Kanpur last year. New Zealand had India in a spot of bother at 145/5 before Iyer steadied the innings and put on 121 runs with Ravindra Jadeja who scored a half-century of his own.
Iyer signed off by saying, “It was one of the best feelings. It's hard to express in words to get a Test cap from Sunil Gavaskar sir. It was like a fairytale for me... then get a century because not many have done that. It was a brilliant achievement as well and also to represent the country and do it when the world is watching you, is a phenomenal feeling. For 10 days, I couldn't reply to messages.”
