England's Dressing Room Will Be Very Relaxed Under Brendon McCullum – Dinesh Karthik

Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik said the England team’s dressing room will be very relaxed under new Test coach Brendon McCullum.

On Thursday (May 12), McCullum was appointed England’s Test coach after two days of interview at the start of the week top members of ECB comprising CEO Tom Harrison, strategic advisor Andrew Strauss, performance director Mo Bobat and managing director Rob Key.

The former New Zealand captain will take the charge of England’s red-ball cricket affairs early in June after the conclusion of IPL 2022, where he is the current head coach of Kolkata Knight Riders.

McCullum will step down from the role at KKR at the end of the season in order to make his debut as international coach.

Brendon McCullum has no negative bone in his body: Dinesh Karthik

Karthik played with McCullum in a couple of IPL teams – now-defunct franchises Kochi Tuskers Kerala (2011) and Gujarat Lions (2016-17). Karthik was the captain of KKR when McCullum joined as head coach in IPL 2020.

The Tamil Nadu player said McCullum doesn’t carry any negative vibes in the team environment and is excited to see the former New Zealand skipper’s alliance with Ben Stokes (newly appointed England Test captain).

“The one thing I can tell you in the enormous amounts of time I’ve spent with him is that there is no negative bone in his body,” Karthik said on the ICC Review.

“He is somebody who wants to do everything in a positive manner. So it’s going to be very interesting when Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum meet up and figure out what’s the positive way for England cricket to do things,” he added.

Although McCullum has a brief experience of coaching in T20 franchise tournaments with KKR and Trinbago Knight Riders in CPL, the 40-year-old is unfamiliar with international cricket coaching.

“I think there will be certain things that will be definitely new to Brendon McCullum. There is no doubt about it.

“Even though he has done his coaching bit for Kolkata Knight Riders and for Trinbago Knight Riders, I think red-ball cricket is a completely different kettle of fish,” Karthik said.

Brendon McCullum is a very strong man, there is no doubt about it: Dinesh Karthik

Karthik also said that McCullum would bring a relaxed environment to the English dressing room with his tranquil mindset and wants the young England players to gain vigour from him.

“It will be a very relaxed dressing room. I’ve seen that he is somebody who focuses a lot on playing a lot of sports off the field and off the field having a lot of fun as well,” Karthik said.

“He emphasizes a lot on it like a young kid who likes to play all the sports possible and gets very physical as well. He is a very strong man, there is no doubt about it. Sometimes even too strong for the current cricketers today. It will be a very relaxed dressing room, a very chill dressing room.

“It’ll be very interesting how the youngsters are able to draw energy from that and make sure they are doing all things right to take English cricket forward,” he added.

England will start their new era in red-ball cricket under McCullum and Stokes with the three-match Test series against New Zealand, starting on June 2 at the Lord’s.

Also Read: I Think Both Brendon McCullum And Ben Stokes Are Cut From Same Cloth – Nasser Hussain Excited For England’s New Test Coach And Captain Pair