“I didn’t know where I was going to get a run from” - Brendon McCullum’s stunning revelation of 158* in IPL 2008 opener

Former New Zealand opener and England head coach Brendon McCullum opened up on his record 158* in the very first match of the inaugural IPL edition in 2008. McCullum set the stage ablaze and gave the IPL a perfect start with his sensational knock that night.

Opening the batting for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Bengaluru, Brendon McCullum slammed an unbeaten 158 off just 73 balls, including 10 fours and 13 sixes at a strike-rate of 216.43.

The former opener recalled his stunning performance and revealed his thoughts before the game and while he was at the crease. He credited that inning and IPL for changing his life.

"It literally changed my life. I don't say that lightly. Coming from where I come from, playing for New Zealand, cricket is very much secondary to rugby, and I was like not established at all really at international cricket when I got picked up for that first IPL. I remember I was looking around the dressing room at Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly, and all these amazing players, and I had a bit of imposter syndrome. I was like 'Geez, how am I in? How am I going to open the batting when I've got all these gun players here?' And obviously you're earning good money and there's big crowd and there's all this anticipation of what the IPL was going to be," he said on 'For The Love Of Cricket' podcast. (20:00)

Brendon McCullum became the first player to score a century in IPL history. It was also the highest individual score until Chris Gayle broke the record with his 175* in 2013.

The England head coach stated that he was not in form before the tournament began. He was under pressure to perform and had not had the best of starts to his innings either.

"I was in no form whatsoever. I remember leading into the game, I was like I didn't know where I was going to get a run from. I was actually quite nervous. The build-up and everything, the glitz and the glamour of the IPL, and I'm sitting here going oh my god and I'm shitting myself. We go out, bat first, I'm naught off eight in a T20 game, I thought I was under pressure at the start. I didn't know which end of the bat to hold, I'm like what am I doing?" he reflected. (20:45)

Courtesy of his brilliant 158*, KKR posted a massive total of 222/3. They then bundled RCB out for a paltry 82 and registered a huge 140-run victory. McCullum also revealed that the then KKR captain, Sourav Ganguly, told him after the game that it would change his life.

"Sourav Ganguly came up to me after the game and he sat next to me. He's a big star, obviously, and he said Baz, you wouldn't understand this, like your life will never be the same again. I didn't know what he meant. But from that moment on, it literally changed everything," he added.

Brendon McCullum ended up playing 101 Tests, 260 ODIs, and 71 T20Is. He established himself as a dangerous and hard-hitting opener across all formats. In the IPL, he played 109 games and scored 2880 runs with two hundreds and 13 half-centuries.

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KKR CEO called up Brendon McCullum with the coaching offer

Brendon McCullum played five seasons for KKR and won the title once with them as a player in 2012. He played his last IPL season in 2018. Two years later, he returned to KKR in 2020 as their head coach.

The former Kiwi revealed that KKR CEO Venky Mysore called him and offered him the role. While he stated that he had no idea about coaching, Mysore convinced Brendon McCullum to give it a shot.

"But I had five years with them (KKR) and at the end of my playing career, Venky Mysore was the CEO at Kolkata. He rang me up and said Baz, would you coach KKR and TKR? He actually rang initially as a mentor and then whoever they had lined up pulled out and rang up to say would you coach? I said I don't know anything about coaching. He said that's fine, you'll know what to do. I said if you're happy, I'm happy, and I'll give it a crack," he said. (22:54)

Brendon McCullum served as their head coach for three seasons from 2020 to 2022. KKR narrowly missed out on the playoffs in 2020. They made it to the final in 2021 but lost to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). In 2022, they finished seventh on the points table.