Brendon McCullum’s top 3 innings in IPL

The former legendary New Zealand skipper’s and the batting superstar of his time, Brendon McCullum has turned 42 today we will be discussing his Top 3 innings in IPL. Currently, he is serving as the head coach of England in Test cricket. He made a lot of contributions to New Zealand cricket, to his credit during his illustrious career of 14 years. He made his first international appearance in the Sydney ODI between New Zealand and Australia.

After that, Baz played 101 Tests, 260 ODIs, and 71 T20Is before making his last international appearance in the Christchurch Test between New Zealand and Australia. Interestingly, Brendon McCullum made his first and last international appearances against the same opposition. 

Apart from his bright international career, the former Kiwi skipper had also amazing numbers in the franchise cricket leagues, including the cash-rich Indian Premier League, probably, the top franchise league in the cricketing world. With that said,

Here we’ll have a look at Top 3 innings in IPL played by McCullum in his career:

3. 84* runs (KKR) vs RCB – IPL 2009 

Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore were locking horns in the 41st match of the Indian Premier League 2009. RCB won the toss and asked KKR to bat first. Batting first, the KKR skipper played a brilliant unbeaten knock of 84 runs off 64 balls with 10 fours and two sixes with the bat. 

On the back of his knock, KKR posted a total of 173 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. However, his knock went in vain as KKR lost the match; RCB chased down the target in 19.2 overs, scoring 176 runs for the loss of 4 wickets courtesy of Ross Taylor’s unbeaten 81-run knock.

2. 100* runs (CSK) vs SRH – IPL 2015

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni won the toss against Sunrisers Hyderabad; he decided to bat first and the hosts got a brilliant start of 75 runs for the first wicket between the openers, Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum. Later, McCullum went on to smash the swashbuckling century as he played an unbeaten knock of 100 runs off just 56 balls with 7 fours and 9 sixes. 

On the back of his century, CSK posted a big total of 209 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. While defending the target in the second innings, CSK bowlers restricted SRH to the score of 164 runs for the loss of six wickets in the entire 20 overs. Eventually, CSK won the match by 45 runs and McCullum won the ‘Player of the Match award for his match-defining knock. This knock ranks second in McCullum’s top three IPL knocks.

1. 158* runs (KKR) vs RCB – IPL 2008 

It was the first-ever match in the history of the Indian Premier League. The tournament opener of the IPL 2008 was played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. RCB’s then-skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and decided to bowl first. Batting first, it was Brendon McCullum of KKR who blew up the entire stadium with his shots in the curtain raiser of the tournament. 

He played a swashbuckling knock of 158 runs off just 73 balls, hitting 10 fours and 13 massive sixes. It was only McCullum’s knock which guided KKR to the mammoth total of 222 runs for the loss of just 3 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Later, they bundled out RCB at the score of 82 runs to win the match by 140 runs. McCullum won the ‘Player of the Match award for his knock. It was the highest and top-most knock of Brendon McCullum in his IPL career.