Eoin Morgan credits Brendon McCullum for England's revival in 50-over cricket

Before the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, the hosts England were believed by many experts to be the favorites to win the title. They have lived up to the expectations and became the first side to qualify for the semi-finals. They have looked a class apart and stand firmly in the contention to become the champions.

But the story for the team was completely different a couple of years back. They lost to Bangladesh in the 2015 ODI World and suffered a humiliating exit from the league stage. The inventors of the game suffered immense criticism from all over the world and many blamed that they didn’t take the white ball cricket seriously.

But since that tournament, their fortune in ODI cricket took a drastic turn. Many consider the skipper Eoin Morgan to be the biggest influence in the revival but he believes it was the former Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum who sparked a change. The duo was a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad in IPL for 3 years and spent a lot of time together.

“He (McCullum) has certainly been an inspiration for me. Three years at Kolkata (Knight Riders) with him, in which we sort of grew pretty close together, and I learned a lot from him. Watching him lead within a group and his sort of tactical cricket brain and how he goes about things,” Morgan told cricket.com.au.

“He always has an an alternative view regardless of whether it’s right or wrong, which makes things very interesting when you chat to him about cricket,” added the English ODI skipper.

The left-hander went on to say that the approach of the 4 semi-finalists of the 2015 ODI World Cup taught them a lot and a benchmark was laid for his side to achieve in the future games.

“The brand of cricket they (the four semi-finalists) played was completely different to everybody else. They were aggressive, they could score 350 if needed and they always went for an attacking bowling line up. Nothing they ever did was a step backwards. So that, as a template, as opposed to just singling out New Zealand, I think is more relevant,” he added.