New Zealand’s hard hitting batsman and wicket keeper McCullum was all for cricket to hold club culture similar to that in football, where faithfulness to the country was not compromised.
“There is no reason why you cannot develop a club culture. Football has developed and players are ardent about their clubs, but also love playing for their country. You need both and have to find the right balance. The sport will get richer if you do that, both in terms of fervor and pride, beside with the financial aspect,” reasoned McCullum.
The Kiwi batsman’s proclivity for aggressive strokes has made him a hot attraction in the T20 circuit and it fetched him a profitable deal with Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the opening season of IPL three seasons ago.
In the book, Inside Twenty20 which is co-authored by McCullum, the cricketer declared that he was almost ready to dump New Zealand for the IPL and the report kicked off a disagreement back home.
Asked whether consent is required among players’ associations to provide better bargaining powers for cricketers when dealing with boards about their IPL deals, McCullum was unsure about such a step.
Having give up his wicket keeping role in the longer format, McCullum celebrated his dominance to the opening spot in style, hitting a double century in the drawn second Test in Hyderabad test.
The Kiwi dasher said he owed a lot to Indian batting ace Virender Sehwag for the radical change in his perception of Test batting.
” Virender Sehwag’s batting has given me the self confidence to play like that, where you don’t have to be a conservative Test batsman. He is a great player who has made a big role on the game,” McCullum said.
“There is no reason why you cannot develop a club culture. Football has developed and players are ardent about their clubs, but also love playing for their country. You need both and have to find the right balance. The sport will get richer if you do that, both in terms of fervor and pride, beside with the financial aspect,” reasoned McCullum.
The Kiwi batsman’s proclivity for aggressive strokes has made him a hot attraction in the T20 circuit and it fetched him a profitable deal with Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the opening season of IPL three seasons ago.
In the book, Inside Twenty20 which is co-authored by McCullum, the cricketer declared that he was almost ready to dump New Zealand for the IPL and the report kicked off a disagreement back home.
Asked whether consent is required among players’ associations to provide better bargaining powers for cricketers when dealing with boards about their IPL deals, McCullum was unsure about such a step.
Having give up his wicket keeping role in the longer format, McCullum celebrated his dominance to the opening spot in style, hitting a double century in the drawn second Test in Hyderabad test.
The Kiwi dasher said he owed a lot to Indian batting ace Virender Sehwag for the radical change in his perception of Test batting.
” Virender Sehwag’s batting has given me the self confidence to play like that, where you don’t have to be a conservative Test batsman. He is a great player who has made a big role on the game,” McCullum said.
