List of Indian batsmen to score centuries on Test debut

Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer, who made his ODI and T20I debut for India in 2017, on Thursday (November 19) became the 303rd player to represent India in the longest format and how well did he grab the opportunity. On the second day morning of the first Test against New Zealand, Iyer reached his century and while doing so he became the 16th player for India to hit a ton on Test debut.

India’s hit ODI opening duo Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma made their Test debuts in the same year in 2013 and both smashed a ton in the first match itself against Australia and West Indies respectively. Another white-ball specialist batter Suresh Raina achieved the feat against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in 2010. Virender Sehwag was the first Indian to achieve the feat in the 21st century. He recorded a hundred against South Africa in 2001.

Shreyas Iyer became the 16th Indian to score a century on his Test debut

Often a reliable batter in limited-overs, Shreyas Iyer has grabbed his opportunity with both hands and is already looking like a pretty solid middle-order player in the Test arena too. Iyer was 75* at the stumps on Day 1 and had laid a solid platform for his team to get to a big score in the first innings.

It was a composed innings by the Mumbai lad as he is known for his big-hitting in the T20Is and in the Indian Premier League (IPL). After having kick-started his Test career in a great fashion, Iyer would like to score more and cement his place in the middle-order now that Ajinkya Rahane’s place is under a threat again.

List of centuries by Indians on Test debut match:

Players Runs on debut Opposition Venue Date
Lala Amarnath 118 England Mumbai 15 Dec 1933
Deepak Shodan 110 Pakistan Kolkata 12 Dec 1952
AG Kripal Singh 100* New Zealand Hyderabad (Deccan) 19 Nov 1955
Abbas Ali Baig 112 England Manchester 23 Jul 1959
Hanumant Singh 105 v England Delhi 8 Feb 1964
Gundappa Viswanath 137 Australia Kanpur 15 Nov 1969
Surinder Amarnath 124 New Zealand Auckland 24 Jan 1976
Mohammad Azharuddin 110 v England Kolkata 31 Dec 1984
Pravin Amre 103 South Africa Durban 13 Nov 1992
Sourav Ganguly 131 England Lord’s 20 Jun 1996
Virender Sehwag 105 South Africa Bloemfontein 3 Nov 2001
Suresh Raina 120 Sri Lanka Colombo (SSC) 26 Jul 2010
Shikhar Dhawan 187 v Australia Mohali 14 Mar 2013
Rohit Sharma 177 West Indies Kolkata 6 Nov 2013
Prithvi Shaw 134 West Indies Rajkot 4 Oct 2018
Shreyas Iyer 105 New Zealand Kanpur 26 Nov 2021