Promotion had been thrown upon him abruptly. Only on the match eve, Mumbai coach Pravin Amre called Shreyas Iyer and asked him to bat at No. 3. There was no hesitation from the youngster, playing his debut season. On Sunday at Eden Gardens , Iyer delivered on that confidence with an innings of 153.

This was an innings of top efficiency. Mumbai were put in to bat on a green-top and for the first 20 overs they moved at snail’s pace. Bengal seamers bowled a tight line during that period. Debutant Pritam Chakraborty was miserly, bowling six maiden overs on the trot.

Then Akhil Herwadkar (25) got out, poking at a length ball from Laxmi Ratan Shukla and giving a simple catch to Sudip Chatterjee in the second slip. Mumbai once again found themselves in a tight corner. Iyer’s nonchalance helped them settle down. The 20-year-old was timing the ball well right from the beginning. Soon, he started to find the gaps.

Iyer, the great

By lunch, he was in full control, outscoring his senior partner Aditya Tare. His painstaking stay — dropped twice and hit on the grille by a Veerpratap Singh bouncer — ended after the break. But Iyer marched on. He went past his half-century and then started to dictate terms. Ashok Dinda was dispatched with disdain over deep square leg and even though the bowler came back well with almost an unplayable delivery, Iyer didn’t lose his composure.

Iyer played very well in front of the wicket and most of his attacking shots bisected the field. A majestic cover drive took him to his maiden Ranji Trophy hundred. Iyer raised his bat and then got down to the task again. A square-cut off Dinda saw him reach 150. Iyer was out next ball, chasing a wide one and nicking it to ‘keeper Shreevats Goswami.

It was the only loose shot — apart from a half-chance on 73 — he played all day. The 175-ball innings had 16 fours and four sixes. This is Iyer’s first Ranji season and today he picked up from where he had left off against Uttar Pradesh. The innings at Kanpur, however, was different. There he batted at No. 7 and came to the crease with his team staring down the barrel. He made 75 and along with Shardul Thakur (87), had helped Mumbai recover sufficiently to win the contest. Here, the situation was not that desperate but at No. 3, the challenge was intense. Iyer lived up to it.

“Coach asked me yesterday if I could bat at No. 3. The position was going vacant. I batted in that position at junior level and was ready to accept the challenge. In fact, this is my favourite position. I’m very happy to get my first hundred for Mumbai in first-class cricket,” he said after the day’s play, “The innings against Uttar Pradesh gave me confidence. We turned the corner and the win lifted the morale of the whole team. I carried forward that confidence to this game,” he added.

Iyer learnt his cricket at Shivaji Park — the sanctum sanctorum of Mumbai cricket — and has been looked after by Amre since he was 13. Little wonder that his coach was very happy. “Today I saw a spark which I also noticed in Rohit (Sharma) during the early phase of his career,” Amre told The Indian Express.

Abhishek Nayar, too, should be credited for guiding his younger partner well. The left-hander had been woefully short of runs coming into this game. Also, he badly twisted his knee and was stretchered off, while going for a sharp single, at the stroke of tea. But Nayar came back and batted manfully for his 65 before being caught plumb in front by a Veerpratap Singh yorker.

The third wicket partnership between him and Iyer yielded 176 runs. It put Mumbai in command. They finished the day at 306 for four with skipper Suryakumar Yadav batting on 22.

Brief scores: Mumbai 306/4 in 86.2 overs (Shreyas Iyer 153, Abhishek Nayar 65; VP Singh 2/79) vs Bengal.