‘Thought I would be out of the team’ – Shreyas Iyer thanks Suryakumar Yadav for backing him during early part of his career

Indian batter Shreyas Iyer has extended gratitude to Suryakumar Yadav for keeping him in high spirits during the early part of his career. Iyer made his first-class debut under Yadav’s leadership back in 2014 and has come up the ranks since then. After plying his trade in ODI and T20I cricket, he made his Test debut in the ongoing match against New Zealand at Green Park in Kanpur.

On the second day’s play, Iyer racked up his maiden Test ton and guided India to a reasonable score of 345. He came to bat at a stage when India had lost Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara in quick succession. Iyer stayed in the middle for nearly 60 overs and was also involved in a 121-run stand for the fifth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja, who made a half-century.

Kanpur stadium has been really lucky for me, says Shreyas Iyer  

The 26-year-old Iyer went down the memory lane to a game in Kanpur where he played brilliantly to take his team out of a precarious position. Iyer put forth his views while speaking to Yadav in a video uploaded on BCCI’s official website.

“It was always my dream to play Test cricket but things went the other way and I played T20Is, ODIs, and now Test cricket. But, it’s never too late and feel very happy to score century on Test debut. I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” Iyer said.

“Kanpur stadium has been really lucky for me. My debut Ranji season was under Suryakumar’s captainship and I would like to thank him for backing me after my first four innings because I thought I would be out of the team,” he stated.

“And then we were kind of in a same situation when we came back to Kanpur. We were 20 or 30 for five and then I made a 150-run partnership with the tail enders and got to a good position for the team,” Iyer added.

As far as Suryakumar is concerned, he came into the Test team after KL Rahul was ruled out of the series due to an injury. Yadav has already played ODI and T20I cricket for the Men in Blue after making his debut earlier this year.