Brendon McCullum reminisces his time with Kolkata Knight Riders

Former New Zealand cricketer and current Kolkata Knight Riders coach recalled memories from his first Indian Premier League (2008) where he scored a stunning 158 against Royal Challengers Bangalore and created history. He hit a total of 13 sixes and 10 fours in 73 balls with a hammering strike rate of 216.14.

On this very day 14 years ago, the Board of Cricket Control in India held its first ever edition of the Indian Premier League. The first ever match took place between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. 

IPL was an experiment for Indian cricket, it was futuristic. There was as much excitement as there was concern regarding the newly established IPL, although McCullum stated that he realised on the very first day that IPL would certainly be successful in the future.

“No one who supported the IPL, cricket in general, realised how big this tournament was going to become and I think we found out that night and also the people who followed cricket and here in India and also all around the world” McCullum told the official IPL website.

When asked about what he felt after smashing the only 100 ever made by a Kolkata Knight Rider player McCullum said that he was quite lucky

“Well, we need to work on that second hundred because I am their batting coach. Hopefully, we will see the second or third hundred throughout the season.” 

“Look I don’t have too many memories, to be honest. it’s a bit blurry. It took me eight balls to start. I think with a little bit of fighting and luck on my way thankfully it came off good,”

 McCullum also talked about the transition that KKR have made from the first season to the current

“Well, I was exposed many years ago to this big league and it’s been pretty good. And in this season, some of our big players have stepped up already. Bit disappointed, probably it would have been nice if we won more games at this stage. Well, I think we actually played some pretty good cricket and came out with the formula of how we wanted to bat and we will look forward to getting back in our next games.”

McCullum was been heading the coaching staff at the franchise at the Knights for a while now and will be a tad under pressure with the recent results. The team will look to get back on the winning track as they face Rajasthan tonight.