In the opening match between RCB and KKR at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in 2008, Brendon McCullum gave the Indian Premier League (IPL) a fantastic start by smashing an incredible 158* off 73 deliveries.
McCullum remembered how he wasn’t playing well before the competition. The wicketkeeper-batter had only amassed 62 runs in five Twenty20 Internationals before to the match between RCB and KKR. In the encounter against RCB, the current England head coach started slowly and talked about how this put a lot of pressure on him.
“I was in absolutely no form. I recall thinking, “I don’t know where I’m going to get a run from,” before the game started. In fact, I was rather anxious. I’m sitting here thinking, “Oh my god,” as I take in the build-up, the glitz, and the glamour of the IPL. We bat first, and even though I am completely out of my league in a Twenty20 match, I felt pressured right from the outset. I wondered, “What am I doing?” as I had no idea which end of the bat to hold. During the ‘For The Love Of Cricket’ podcast, McCullum recalled.
My life was changed by the IPL: McCullum
The former captain of New Zealand said that his life was altered by his time in the IPL. He also recounted how being in the same dressing room as cricket greats Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly left him feeling overcome with emotion.
It genuinely transformed my life. That’s not something I say lightly. Rugby is considerably more important in my home country of New Zealand, where I play, and when I was selected for the first IPL, I was essentially unestablished in international cricket. McCullum remembered, “I had a little imposter syndrome when I was staring around the dressing room at Ricky Ponting, Sourav Ganguly, and all these incredible players.”
“Geez, how am I in?” I thought. With all of these gun players present, how will I begin the batting? And it’s clear that you’re making a nice living, and there’s a large audience and a lot of excitement about what the IPL might be,” he said in closing.
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Since McCullum became head coach, England has been playing some really aggressive cricket. At Old Trafford in Manchester, the Three Lions defeated South Africa in the second Twenty20 International on Friday, September 12, scoring an incredible 304/2 in 20 overs. To level the series, the home team triumphed by 146 runs.
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