McCullum’s bold approach was also reflected in his time as a head coach in franchise cricket, prior to taking the England Test job.
He won the Caribbean Premier League in 2020 with Trinbago Knight Riders, going unbeaten throughout the 12-match T20 tournament, and also reached the final of the Indian Premier League with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2021.
There, after KKR won just two of their first seven matches, he publicly called out his batters for being too timid in their approach.
“I’ve asked time and time again for us to be more aggressive,” he said.
“A saying that I’ve used throughout my career is ‘if you can’t change a man, change the man’.”
The result was Nitish Rana being moved from opener to the middle order, with Venkatesh Iyer coming in at the top.
KKR’s powerplay run-rate jumped from 7.25 per over to 8.08, and seven wins were taken from the next nine before defeat against Chennai Super Kings in the final.
Attacking is non-negotiable.
