The Mumbaikar batsman top-scored with 105 as India posted 345 on the board after electing to bat first. Iyer became the 16th Indian to smash a century on Test debut and sixth batter from the country to achieve the feat since 2000.
“Kanpur stadium has been really lucky for me. My debut Ranji season was under Suryakumar’s captainship. I would like to thank him for backing me after my first 4 innings because I thought that I would be out of the team,” said Iyer while talking to teammate Suryakumar Yadav on BCCI.TV after the end of the second day’s play.
“It has been a lucky ground for me, I even scored 93 here in the IPL. It is one of the luckiest grounds I have played on,” he added.
Iyer revealed that it was his dream to play Test cricket for India, and he was really happy to hit a ton on his debut match.
“It has always been a dream to play Test cricket, and I’m really happy to score a century on debut, couldn’t have asked for a better fairytale,” the 26-year-old revealed.
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When it comes to the second day’s play, New Zealand came back strongly after bundling out India for 345 and posted 129 for no loss at stumps with Will Young (75*) and Tom Latham (50*) unbeaten at the crease.
“They got off to a good start obviously, but it’s important for us to not leak runs because the cracks are opening up, and it should get trickier tomorrow,” Iyer told home broadcaster Star Sports.
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