Brendon McCullum, CSK, RCB, IPL, 2015 World Cup, Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2020 Auction
Brendon McCullum (Credits: Twitter)

Under the captaincy of Brendon McCullum, New Zealand adopted an aggressive approach. His flamboyance effected the Kiwis in a positive manner as the ‘nice guys’ in cricket started to play the fearless brand of cricket.

In an interview on Sky Sports Podcast, McCullum opened up on his fallout with teammate Ross Taylor, after taking over the captaincy reigns from him.

Ross Taylor was my U-19 deputy: Brendon McCullum

Ross Taylor, New Zealand, 2023 World Cup
Ross Taylor (Credits: Twitter)

Brendon McCullum, who is currently the coach of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), said they had got along well ever since their U-19 days. He also said they played a lot of under age cricket together.

Taylor did not go well along with the then coach Mike Hesson. He was appointed the captain in 2011 but after a Test series against Sri Lanka McCullum took over the role.

“That’s exactly what it was, shocking. And it put some pressure on my friendship and relationship with Ross. I have a lot of development and under-age cricket with Ross. I was the captain of the U19 team and Taylor was my vice-captain. We’ve always got on really well,” the former wicketkeeper-batsman said.

Former New Zealand captain McCullum said that if he had time, he would have asked to appoint Taylor the captain, and the fall out leaves a bad stain on the board.

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Brendon McCullum
Brendon McCullum. Credit: Reuters.

“We had to go for an interview for the job. It was about presenting the map for the future of New Zealand cricket to a panel. I don’t really know what we were doing. If I had my time, I would’ve said ‘No I’m not going to come and go through the process, you appoint Ross as captain and then we’ll see what unfolds from there”, he added.

“It’s a bad stain for New Zealand cricket and put pressure on Ross and me. Then it led me to eventually take over the captaincy from Ross.”