Brendon McCullum, we miss you: India vs New Zealand, from an Indian cricket-lover’s perspective

A cricketer cannot play for an eternity, but for someone who had scored the fastest Test century in his final Test...

Let me put this in the simplest of words: for most contemporary cricket-viewers, the first word that New Zealand cricket reminds of is Brendon McCullum. If you love the sport, you find out ways to find favourites beyond your team. For example, I support India, but I could not help but admire and respect Baz, for he had that effect on the cricket fans. Of course, he is not the first: cricket has seen some with fans across the world; while few gets as much adulation around the globe as AB de Villiers, McCullum is not far behind. McCullum has been a game-changer for any side he played. Orthodox cricket has its own values, but the entertainment quotient the shorter formats bring cannot be ignored. McCullum has stretched his cricket beyond that: while players tend to play safe in Test cricket, McCullum used to smash the bowling irrespective of format. Live Cricket Scorecard: India vs New Zealand, 13th T20 Match, Super 10 Group 2 at Nagpur

Everyone likes deluges of boundaries. Sixes bring spectators closer to the game. When a ball flies high and tends to land somewhere in the gallery, somewhere in your subconscious mind, you half-expect it to come at you. People are bound to love players who hit more sixes.

Indian fans, especially, have an attachment with IPL despite discussions over its cricketing values. The aam junta will sit down to talk over a cup of tea in earthen pots, have excited, table-thumping conversations on how IPL has been a plethora of corruption in Indian cricket, and go home and buy online tickets of the game to make the weekend exciting for family. It was due to his IPL stint that Brendon McCullum became a household name in India — right from his record-breaking 158 not out on IPL debut. Playing for teams like KKR, KTK and CSK, McCullum became that one name who can win matches single-handedly. When a Sachin Tendulkar hundred goes in vain due to someone’s 60-ball 81 and an Indian crowd keeps cheering, you know you are witnessing someone special: and this actually happened, when that someone was McCullum during his KTK days of 2011 IPL.

[inline-quotes align=”left”]Sixes bring spectators closer to the game. When a ball flies high and tends to land somewhere in the gallery, somewhere in your subconscious mind, you half-expect it to come at you.[/inline-quotes]

India start their ICC World T20 2016 journey with the match against New Zealand. Undoubtedly, the latter have a strong batting line-up with world-class players like Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor. While Indian fans are generally confident despite their 0-4 streak against New Zealand in T20Is, they are also equally sad — for there will be no Baz this time. This, despite the fact that McCullum had top-scored for New Zealand in all four matches — with 91(55), 69(55), 56(49) and 45(44) — 261 runs at 65.25 and a strike rate of 128.6.

Avid India supporters are somewhere having a laugh, the general notion being “McCullum will not be there this time. This time, we will change the game.” At the same time, the cricket fan deep inside contradicts that thought: “What fun watching a Brendon-less Kiwi batting?” A cricketer cannot play for an eternity, but for someone who had scored the fastest Test century in his final Test, the end came a bit too quick.

Or may be, it is because we love McCullum a bit too much.

(Paulami Chakraborty, a singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)

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