The only 4 overseas players to have featured in IPL since it's inception in 2008

Brendon McCullum

McCullum is one of the most explosive openers of all time

Brendon McCullum gave the IPL the kind of start which all it's backers would not have even imagined of. Setting the league ablaze with his glittering knock of 158* in the opening match on 18th April, 2008 at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, the Kiwi batsman gave IPL the cricketing blitz it needed to match the huge bucks of money that came with the involvement of Bollywood personalities and Indian business tycoons.

A veteran of the game who played a huge role in the development and transition phase of his national side, Bazz has always been a potent weapon in every IPL team that he has turned out for. He represented KKR in the period 2008-2010 and again in 2012-2013 after a one year stint with the now defunct Kochi Tuskers Kerala and then formed a solid opening partnership with Dwayne Smith for CSK in 2014-2015 which continued to exist for Gujarat Lions in 2016 and 2017 seasons.

In his 103 IPL appearances, McCullum has scored 2753 runs, including 124 sixes, at an average of 28.09 and at a brisk scoring rate of 131.22. He has 13 50's to his name and is one of the few batsmen to have scored 2 IPL centuries. A proven match winner, the former KKR captain has been awarded the Man of the Match on 5 occasions. The only thing he did not enjoy success as far as the IPL is concerned is his stint as captain as he won only 3 of his 14 matches.

His IPL career seems to have come a full circle in 2018 as he would now walk out wearing the RCB jersey on their opening match against KKR, in a deja vu situation of 2008. RCB, who have always been batting heavy will rely on him to provide them with explosive starts in the absence of RCB veteran and IPL legend Chris Gayle.