Playing Test cricket for your country is an achievement itself, let alone scoring a century on debut. India batter Shreyas Iyer, who made his Test debut in the ongoing Kanpur Test against New Zealand, on Friday registered his maiden Test century on his debut appearance for the team in the longest format of the game. After starting off steadily, Iyer went on to play a brilliant knock, helping India recover from a tricky situation against the Kiwis on day one.

Iyer smashed 105 off 171 balls, hitting 13 boundaries and a couple of sixes during India’s first innings. His exploits helped India reach a total of 345 in the first innings at the Green Park Stadium.

For the record, Iyer, who received his debut Test cap from legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar, is only the 16th Indian cricketer to score a century on Test debut.

List of Indian players to score century on Test debut:

Batsman                               Score     Opposition

1. Lala Amarnath                   118         England (1933)
2. Deepak Shodan 110 Pakistan (1952)
3. AG Kripal Singh 100* New Zealand (1955)
4. Abbas Ali Baig 112 England (1959)
5. Hanumant Singh 105 England (1964)
6. Gundappa Viswanath 137 Australia (1969)
7. Surinder Amarnath 124 New Zealand (1976)
8. Mohammad Azharuddin 110 England (1984)
9. Pravin Amre 103 South Africa (1992)
10. Sourav Ganguly 131 England (1996)
11. Virender Sehwag 105 South Africa (2001)
12. Suresh Raina 120 Sri Lanka (2010)
13. Shikhar Dhawan 187 Australia (2013)
14. Rohit Sharma 127 West Indies (2013)
15. Prithvi Shaw 134 West Indies (2018)
16. Shreyas Iyer 105 New Zealand (2021)

After winning the toss, India stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane opted to bat first against the Kane Williamson-led Blackcaps.

Promoted

A fine century from Iyer, and half-centuries from Shubman Gill and Ravindra Jadeja saw India score 345 runs in the first innings.

In reply, New Zealand were 72/0 at tea on day two.