Former New Zealand captain Brandon McCullum is returning to the Kolkata Knight Riders, but this time he will be seen as a coach. A media report has claimed that Shah Rukh Khan owned franchise team has roped him as an assistant coach.
According to ESPN Cricinfo, McCullum, who recently retired from all forms of competitive cricket after sustaining an injury in the ongoing Global T20 Canada, will also join Caribbean Premier League team Trinidad Knight Riders as head coach. Interestingly, he will replace Simon Katich in both these teams.
McCullum retired from international cricket in 2016 but continued to play in various T20 leagues around the world. KKR picked McCullum in the inaugural IPL season and he set the first game on fire by playing a blistering innings of 158 runs that was enough to win the game for his side against RCB. He was a member of the KKR team for five seasons and also led the team in 2009.
The veteran has featured in 71 T20Is and scored 2,140 runs at an impressive average of 35+. He has scored 2 hundreds and 13 half tons. He has also featured in 109 IPL matches for several franchise teams like- Kolkata Knight Riders, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Lions and Royal Challengers Bangalore and scored 2880 runs at an average of 27.69. His IPL career includes 2 hundred and 13 half centuries.
He last featured for Virat Kohli led- Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018 season and scored 127 runs in six matches. He went unsold in the 2019 season auction due to his high base price of 2 crore rupees.
The 37-year-old is often considered as the T20 specialist and with the game demanding young faces, McCullum may be one of the youngest coaches in the game. He is well suited for the role and KKR and TKR are expected to benefit under his coaching.
