Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 18 (ANI): Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum recalled memories of the first-ever Indian Premier League (2008) season on its 15th anniversary, where he created history by scoring a century (158*) against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
On this day 14 years ago, the picture of the game changed due to the experiment in T20 cricket in India. 18 April 2008 was the day when the first match of IPL was played. The match took place between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. In this first match of the Indian Premier League, KKR batsman Brendon McCullum scored 158 runs.
While the hype was around the build-up to the league and the future of cricket, it did not take too long for Brendon McCullum to take over with one of the defining innings of his life and kick start the cricketing feast. A cricket frenzy lashed the Chinnaswamy Stadium as the viewers witnessed a masterclass from McCullum.
“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 also all around the world,” McCullum told IPL website.
Talking about the memories of his innings and how it’s the only ever hundred from the KKR team, McCullum said, “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.”
Brendon McCullum scored 158 runs in the match against RCB. He smashed 13 sixes and 10 fours in 73 balls. McCullum played with a strike rate of 216.44 and hammered legendary bowlers like Jacques Kallis, Zaheer Khan, and Praveen Kumar.
“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,” said McCullum.
Talking about the first season of IPL for Kolkata and how things have changed for the KKR team in this season, he said, “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.” (ANI)
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