Brendon McCullum IPL 2018 Royal Challengers Bangalore
Being snubbed from the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League was a hard pill for Brendon McCullum to swallow. The former New Zealand skipper had an average campaign in the 2018 IPL season with Royal Challengers Bangalore, one of the reasons as to why he was snubbed in the 2019 IPL player auction.
McCullum reacted on not being bought in the auctions and hinted at calling it quits soon.
"That's the way things go sometimes. I've been very lucky, I've had 11 seasons in the IPL and at some stage you need to transition away from the playing stuff,” McCullum told Radio Sport.
The former Kiwi skipper retired from international cricket in 2016, but has been playing in T20 leagues around the world. McCullum has played all 11 seasons in the Indian Premier League, hopping from one franchise to another.
"All good things must come to an end, and I was very delighted to see some of the Kiwi boys got picked up. I'm certainly not too worried about it; it's the way the game goes sometimes. I certainly wish the other boys all the best and you never know, you just never know what might unfold in the future," he added.
The explosive batsman made a smashing start to his IPL career as he will best be known for his unbeaten 158 in the inaugural season's first ever match. He has played for Kolkata Knight Riders (2008-2010) before joining Kochi Tuskers Kerala in 2011. He made a comeback for KKR (2012-2013) and then left for Chennai Super Kings where he played under MS Dhoni's captaincy. In the next two years, he played for Gujarat Lions and then joined Virat Kohli's RCB in 2018.
McCullum was eventually released by the franchise as he had an average campaign, where he scored 127 runs in six matches. Many veterans had lowered their base price in the 2019 IPL player auction, but the former Kiwi batsmen kept his base price at Rs.2 Crore and found no buyers.
McCullum is currently playing in Australia's Big Bash League, representing Brisbane Heat.
