"What am I doing?..." - Brendon McCullum Recalls Thrill and Pressure of His Famous IPL 2008 Innings

In the opening game of the first Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, former New Zealand captain and current England head coach Brendon McCullum recalled his undefeated 158* for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Despite his incredible performance, McCullum said he had been “in no form whatsoever leading up to the game and did not know where to get a run from."

McCullum remembered how he wasn't playing well before the competition. The wicketkeeper-batter had only amassed 62 runs in five Twenty20 Internationals before the match between RCB and KKR. In the encounter against RCB, the current England head coach started slowly and talked about how this put a lot of pressure on him.

Brendon McCullum Gets Candid:

He said, “I was in no form whatsoever. I remember leading into the game, I was like, I did not know where I was going to get a run from. I was actually quite nervous. The build-up and everything, the glitz and the glamour of the IPL, and I am sitting here going Oh my god. We go out, bat first, I am nought off eight in a T20 game, I thought I was under pressure at the start. I did not know which end of the bat to hold. I am like What am I doing?"

He further added, “It literally changed my life. I don’t say that lightly. Coming from where I come from, playing for New Zealand, cricket is very much secondary to rugby, and I was not established at all, really, in international cricket when I got picked up for that first IPL. I remember I was looking around the dressing room at Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly, and all these amazing players, and I had a bit of imposter syndrome."

Brendon McCullum said, "I genuinely believe IPL changed my life". (Love Of Cricket). pic.twitter.com/11L89GxKlj

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) September 12, 2025

He concluded, saying, "I was like ‘Geez, how am I in? How am I going to open the batting when I have got all these gun players here?’ And obviously, you are earning good money and there is a big crowd and there’s all this anticipation of what the IPL was going to be."

Since Brendon McCullum became head coach, England has been playing some really aggressive cricket. At Old Trafford in Manchester, the Three Lions defeated South Africa in the second Twenty20 International on Friday, September 12, scoring an incredible 304/2 in 20 overs. To level the series, the home team triumphed by 146 runs.

Watch this space for more cricket news and updates.