Debutant Shreyas Iyer on Friday became the 16th Indian to score a century on Test debut as he slammed his maiden Test century on Day 2 of the India vs New Zealand first Test at the Green Park in Kanpur.
The right-hander reached the three-figures mark with a couple off pacer Kyle Jamieson in the morning session of the ongoing second Test.
Before Iyer, the last debutant from India to achieve the feat was opener Prithvi Shaw, who had smashed a fantastic hundred against the West Indies in Rajkot in October 2018. Notably, the first Indian to score a century on debut was Lala Amarnath in 1933 against England in Mumbai.
The other Indians in the list are RH Shodhan, Kripal Singh, Abbas Ali Baig, Hanumant Singh, Gundappa Viswanath, Surinder Amarnath, Mohammed Azharuddin, Pravin Amre, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma.
Earlier, Iyer had received his Test cap from former India great Sunil Gavaskar on Thursday. Meanwhile, Iyer also became the second Indian after Viswanath to score a Test hundred on debut in Kanpur.
Viswanath had done the same in 1969 against Australia.
Iyer had finished Day 1 remaining unbeaten on 75. In the morning session of the second day, Iyer continued his good form and didn’t take too long in adding 25 more runs to his overnight score.
Iyer is now the third Indian to score a Test ton debut against the Black Caps after Kripal Singh and Surinder Amarnath.
Overall, Iyer is now the 112th batter to smash a century on Test debut.
Iyer, 26, had earlier made his ODI and T20I debut in 2017 however, he had to wait for more than three years to earn his maiden Test cap. Iyer meanwhile, has fantastic record in First-Class cricket as he has amassed 4592 runs at an average of 52.18 with 12 centuries and 23 fifties in the domestic circuit while wearing whites.