Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) players bid adieu to their head coach Brendon McCullum, who will soon take up the new responsibility as he has been named the England Test team head coach. However, he will be unavailable for KKR from the next IPL. Among all, Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer were the ones who applauded and shared their experiences of working with McCullum as well.
The former New Zealand captain has signed a four-year contract with the ECB. He will start his stint next month with the three-match home series against New Zealand as well. In a video uploaded by KKR’s official Twitter handle, a bunch of players came forward and shared their messages for him.
Opening batter Venkatesh Iyer gave the credit to Brendon McCullum for teaching him to be himself and encouraging him to give his best as well.
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He said: “He is an unbelievable human being and a great coach to work with. I think the most important thing he taught me was to be me. It’s simple, but sometimes we tend to forget it so I really like to thank Baz for reminding me for who I am and making me give my best on the field every single day. All the best, Baz for your coaching career in England. I hope you take the same charisma, same attitude there, and wish you all the success for the next step of your life and we’ll be meeting soon.”
KKR captain Shreyas Iyer also said that the McCullum urged the players to play freely and he was impressed by his composure too. He also congratulated him on his new role as well.
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He said: “He was an outstanding guy and an outstanding human being. It was really amazing to work under him. He is someone who gives you lot of liberty and freedom. As a player and also as an individual to express yourself on the field and I haven’t seen any coach so calm and composed sitting in the dressing room, even in the dugout during the matches.”
“There’s a lot to learn from him, he is one of the most positive persons I’ve met and how much ever I talk about him, it would be less I feel. I will be definitely missing him once he leaves KKR franchise but really happy for him, coaching for England cricket team and I’m sure I would love to play against them,” Shreyas Iyer concluded.
