Brendon McCullum hints at retirement after IPL snub

Brendon McCullum has a special connection with the Indian Premier League (IPL). When the IPL was about to start as an experiment in 2008, it was McCullum who set the tone by playing an unbelievable knock of 158 not out and showed the fans what to expect from the competition. Since then McCullum’s stock in the IPL only rose. Over the years, he became one of the biggest attractions of the cash-rich league.

His hard-hitting abilities, fielding, and charming personality made him a fan favorite. But as they every good thing comes to end, McCullum’s journey in the league seems to have ended. The veteran batsman went unsold in this year’s recently-concluded IPL auction. The former Kiwi captain was among 11 New Zealand cricketers who failed to find a buyer in the auction. Only two players from New Zealand – Lockie Ferguson and Martin Guptill – managed to get the lucrative deals.

One of the reasons behind McCullum not getting an IPL deal was his poor showing in the last edition. The hard-hitting batsman scored only 127 runs in six games. Consequently, Royal Challengers Bangalore released him. McCullum had received the setback just 11 days after the Lahore Qalandars decided not to retain him for the next edition of the Pakistan Super League.

Another reason could be his high base price of INR 2 crore. His age only made things complicated for him as the franchises did not gamble on a 37-year old who has looked out of form in recent times.

Retirement plans

Disappointed by the turn of events in recent times, the legendary batsman has hinted that he might call time on his illustrious career, “That’s the way things go sometimes. I’ve been very lucky, I’ve had 11 seasons in the IPL and at some stage you need to transition away from the playing stuff,” he told Radio Sport.

“All good things must come to an end, and I was very delighted to see some of the Kiwi boys got picked up. I’m certainly not too worried about it; it’s the way the game goes sometimes. I certainly wish the other boys all the best and you never know, you just never know what might unfold in the future,” he added.

McCullum had retired from international cricket in 2016 but has continued to play in T20 leagues around the world. He has featured in every IPL season since its inception in 2008 having represented Kolkata (2008-10 and 2012-13), Kochi Tuskers Kerala (2011), Chennai (2014-15), Gujarat Lions (2016-17) and Bangalore (2018).

~ Written by Bijoy

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