"I used to do this in Ranji Trophy games" - Shreyas Iyer credits domestic experience for crucial knock vs New Zealand
Shreyas Iyer said that his experience in domestic cricket is what helped him play his crucial knock of 65 runs in the second innings of the first Test against New Zealand, rescuing India from 51/5.
Speaking after Stumps on Day 4 in Kanpur, Iyer said about his knock:
"I have been in these situations before, but not with the Indian team. I used to do this in Ranji games. The idea was to play session by session."
He added that head coach Rahul Dravid had told him that he needed to bat for as long as possible to help India set a big enough target for New Zealand to chase.
"Rahul Sir said that I need to stay out in the middle for as much as possible and build on the score and I was determined to do that. I thought 250-odd including the lead was more than enough on this wicket, and fortunately we got some more," Iyer said.
Iyer's 65 came on the back of the 105 he made in the first innings, becoming the first Indian to score a century and a fifty on Test debut.
He said he was aware of the record but that a win would mean much more to him.
"Yeah, I knew about it. When I came back, one of my teammates told me about it. Yeah, many others have done it from other teams but I was told I am the first from India. It feels good but the most important thing is to win the match," Iyer added.
India got to a competitive total, need to have faith in spinners now: Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer put on 52 runs with Ravichandran Ashwin (32) and then 64 runs with Wriddhiman Saha (61*) as India declared on 234/7.
They set New Zealand a target of 284 to win.
Speaking about whether the target was good enough, Iyer said:
"To be honest, there wasn't much happening on the wicket. We needed to get to a competitive total, maybe around 275-280, and we have spin power. We have to have faith on our spinners and know they can really put them under pressure on the final day."
India declared late on Day 4 to give the bowlers a chance at picking some early wickets and the ploy worked, with Ashwin trapping opener Will Young LBW. New Zealand finished the day on 4/1.