"Enjoying partnership with 'the doctor' Dwayne Smith" - Brendon McCullum

Brendon McCullum says he’s enjoying Dwayne Smith’s company at the top of CSK batting order

After a false start, all is looking good for Chennai Super Kings this IPL season. Having won 4 out of the their 5 matches played so far, Chennai appears to be the most consistent team this time around. Their consistency is a result of some excellent performances in all three departments.

Their destructive opening pair of Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith has managed to put together 323 runs in 5 matches. McCullum who formerly played for Kolkata Knight Riders, expressed his joy of batting with Dwayne Smith in this season.

“I have certainly enjoyed my partnership with Dwayne Smith, ‘The Doctor’. It is great to bat with him because he is so powerful and has a lot of options in his batting,” McCullum told IPLt20.com. “I am not going to give too many secrets away, but certainly I enjoying batting with him,” he said.

On asking to comment on the power of the opening pair of CSK, McCullum said, “So far we have done well. We may not be the most explosive pair, but in terms of how we have been playing, we have managed to give our team a good start in most games. We are pretty lucky that both of us hit the ball and hit it in different areas.”

“I saw a comment from our captain, MS Dhoni, earlier in the week when he said that Smith and I don’t compete against each other but we complement each other, which is nice to have in an opening partnership. We also have so much power to follow that we both have the confidence to play positively,” he added.

CSK have completed all their matches of the first leg of the tournament and will be playing their next match in India. The modest Kiwi star wishes to continue with his good form in India.

“It has been a good time here. We have played some good cricket, and if we had been given four out of five wins for this part of the tournament before the start of the competition, we would have been pretty happy. We have played well and gelled quite nicely as a team with a couple of new changes with me coming into the unit too. Hopefully, we continue that form when we get to India,” he said.