Made a big embarrassment of myself here: McCullum recalls path to unbeaten 158 in IPL's first match

Indian Premier League (IPL) got off to a blistering start when Brendon McCullum blasted an unbeaten 158 off 73 balls for Kolkata Knight Riders to set the tone for the league to change the cricketing world forever. Cut to now, McCullum, the head coach of Kolkata, went down memory lane with chief mentor David Hussey in a video on the league's official website, recalling events which led from his circumspect start making way for a breath-taking one-man onslaught over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the inaugural match of IPL. "Look I don't have too many memories, to be honest. It's a bit blurry but I remember getting the opportunity to bat with you, Sourav and Ricky throughout that innings. I remember being on zero off eight balls to start. My mind was ticking by thinking, 'really made a big embarrassment of myself here'.

"Then, it was a little bit of fate and things were written under the stars. I think with a little bit of fighting and luck on my way with swinging here and there; thankfully it came off good," recalled McCullum. Post the blistering knock, McCullum's value as a big-hitter and later as a leader soared incredibly in the cricketing world. The former New Zealand skipper was happy in playing a minuscule role into making IPL the brand it currently is. "No one who supported the IPL, cricket in general, realised how big this tournament was going to become and I think we found out that night what it means to the people who followed cricket here in India and also all around the world. It was nice to play a small hand in that."

Incidentally, McCullum's unbeaten 158 is the only century hit by a Kolkata batter in the history of IPL, which he hopes to change at some point in IPL 2022. "Well, we need to work on