Brendon McCullum has been named as the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach for the 2020 IPL season.
McCullum retired from all forms of cricket earlier this month at the age of 37, three years after the end of his international career.
KKR finished in fifth place in the 2019 IPL season, narrowly missing out on a play-off spot on Net Run-Rate. McCullum will replace Jacques Kallis, who was in charge for four seasons and led the side to the play-offs on three occasions.
It’s been real… pic.twitter.com/sdCqLZTDz6
— Brendon McCullum (@Bazmccullum) August 5, 2019
McCullum has history with the KKR, too. He enjoyed two stints at the franchise in the early days of the IPL, and it was with them that he scored 158* in the competition’s first-ever game – a total that is still the second-highest individual score in the tournament’s history.
The former New Zealand skipper also enjoyed a playing stint at Trinbago Knight Riders, the CPL franchise side that is part of the Knight Riders brand. He looks set to become head coach of both franchises.
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KKR’s chief executive, Venky Mysore, was full of praise of his new head coach. “Brendon has been an integral part of the Knight Riders family for a long time,” said Mysore. “His leadership qualities, honesty, positive and aggressive style, combined with his natural ability to bring the best out of the teams he has been a part of makes him ideally suited to lead both KKR and TKR as a head coach.”
