Shreyas Iyer was not meant to feature in the two-match Test series between India and New Zealand right after the T20 World Cup, but destiny had other plans. In fact even when he arrived in Kanpur, the venue of the first test match, he did not know about his inclusion in the playing XI. Rahul's injury does the trick It was only when KL Rahul was ruled out of the series due to an injury that Iyer came to know about his selection. As it turned out, he made an impressive century on debut and joined the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw in the elite list. Iyer backed it up with a fluid half century in the second innings as well and has now joined the long list of Indian batsmen queuing up to take the place of CheteshwarPujara and Ajinkya Rahane in the middle order if the duo don't get their game in order. Iyer's joy This is what Iyer had to say after his dream debut. "When I came to Kanpur, I didn't know I was going to play," Iyer said. "Rahul sir [Dravid, the coach] and skipper [Ajinkya Rahane] came to me and said I was going to play after KL Rahul was ruled out. Suddenly I had to get into the mindset of red-ball cricket. The last match I played was almost three years back, which was the Irani Trophy. I took this as an opportunity and a challenge as well. Once you play white-ball cricket for so long, getting back to red-ball cricket is a different ball game. The mindset and routine has to be on point." "All these thoughts I completely negated. I focused more on my processes. I knew I had the skill. Rahul sir and Ajinkya motivated me a lot. They told me you don't have to change anything because you have played this game before. You have played Ranji Trophy so well, scored so many runs with a really good average. That was my mindset coming to the ground. My aim is to think about today, not think about the next game. If I think about that, I wouldn't be able to perform on the given day. Whatever happens happens for the best, and I will take it in my stride and move forward." Fortune has a big role to play in the lives of everyone, be it a cricketer or a commoner. After a few reprieves, Iyer got into the groove and made the most of the opportunity at hand.
