Brendon McCullum unveiled as new head coach of Kolkata Knight Riders

Sudhir Gupta 16:21 15/08/2019
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  • McCullum turns coach for KKR.

    Former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum has been appointed as the head coach of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming season.

    McCullum has also taken charge as head coach of Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with both franchises being owned by the same management.

    The former Black Caps skipper only recently announced his retirement as a T20 freelance player post the completion of his Global T20 Canada stint.

    “It’s a great honour to take on this responsibility,” McCullum said on his appointment as KKR coach.

    “The Knight Rider franchises in IPL and CPL have become iconic and have set the standard in franchise cricket.

    “We have fantastic squads in both KKR and TKR and I, along with the support staff will be looking to build on the success both franchises have enjoyed.”

    The Kolkata franchise had earlier parted ways with previous head coach Jacques Kallis and his assistant Simon Katich following the team’s failure to qualify for the play-offs of the 2019 edition.

    KKR chief executive Venky Mysore has expressed his confidence in McCullum to do a good job with both Knight Riders franchises.

    “Brendon has been an integral part of the Knight Riders family for a long time,” Mysore said.

    “His leadership qualities, honesty, positive and aggressive style, combined with his natural ability to bring the best out of the teams he has been a part of makes him ideally suited to lead both KKR and TKR as a head coach.”

    McCullum has previously been associated with the Kolkata franchise as a player in two separate stints. He was part of the squad for the inaugural edition in 2008 and scored an explosive 158 in the very first match of the competition’s history.

    He had another stint with KKR between 2012-13 before spending three seasons with CPL franchise Trinbago Knight Riders from 2016 to 2018.

    McCullum’s first assignment will come with the 2019 edition of the CPL which gets underway on September 21.

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