Shreyas Iyer was shaping his class on day four of the India-New Zealand Test when he pulled the hosts out of a deep hole with a fine stroke of 65 runs in the second innings. India’s top order collapsed on day four after the bowlers gave the hosts a hands-on 49 run tour by sacking New Zealand for 296 in the first innings. Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson left Ajinkya Rahane’s team 51/5 when Shreyas sewed an important 52-run stand with Ravichandran Ashwin to take India’s overall lead past the 150-run mark.

After Ashwin’s release, Shreyas continued to play sensibly alongside Wriddhiman Saha, the wicket-keeper batter. After making up their minds, both batsmen took calculated risks against the crank in order to overcome crucial limits. Shreyas was reaching his half-century to become the first Indian batter ever in Test cricket history to hit a century and a fifty on the debut. He was the 16th Indian to hit a century in the first innings debut.

Shreyas was eventually sacked for 67 when he got a weak glove on a short ball from Southee that he was trying to pull. His 64-run stand with Saha took India beyond the overall lead of 200 runs.

Shreyas hit 8 great limits and a six in the second inning and showed great maturity at a time when older batsmen like Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara were failing.

With that blow, Shreyas has made it difficult for the team management to decide who to drop and who to keep for the second test match when regular captain Virat Kohli returns.

Funded

For now, however, the team will focus on getting as many runs as possible in the final session and then testing the Kiwis.