The first edition of the Indian Premier League took place in 2008 and nobody knew it would become how big it is today. This was the first time a league cricket concert wasting tried after the 2007 WT20 win for India. Brendon McCullum a young batsman from New Zealand provided it with the start that it needed. Playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders he owned the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore as he hit an unbeaten 158 runs in just 73 deliveries. The 26-year-old slammed 13 sixes and 10boundaries in his innings and took the teams to total to 223/3.
After the first innings it was pretty much a one-sided match and later the hosts got bowled out for just 82. McCullum who is now the head coach of the same franchise revealed in an interview about what Sourav Ganguly the then captain told him.
“I was just a young kid back then, so I was so in awe of Shah Rukh Khan who was such a megastar. I was so out of my depth even just around the superstars in my cricket team, let alone the megastar who owned our cricket team! I don’t remember many reactions in detail, but what I do remember is what Sourav Ganguly said to me that night.
Dada said, ‘Your life is changed forever’, and I didn’t quite know what he meant at the time, but (in hindsight), I 100% agree with him,” McCullum told KKR’s website.
“There were times when I was with KKR, and then I got released, but we always finished on really good terms. I was always very grateful, and thankful for the opportunity that the franchise had provided for me. So when an opportunity arose again (for the role of the head coach), I thought: ‘Well, Shah Rukh did say to me ‘You’ll always be very involved with KKR’ and this, I guess, is another opportunity.’
KKR has won the title twice but their last victory was in 2014. The team is hopeful that under McCullum’s guidance and Dinesh Karthik’s leadership this season will be a chance for the win.
