It has been 11 years since Indian Premier League have begun its journey. This is certainly the most entertaining and popular Twenty 20 cricket league followed by billions of fans around the globe. The commercial success of IPL can give competition to any global cricket tournament. The magic of IPL is the amalgamation of stars, legends and young players. As a result, records are regular part of this league. Often, the same season has witnessed the creation of a new record and the same record being broken by another player. But there are still one or two rare records that are alive for years! One of such records is registered with the name to the Kiwi legend, Brendon McCullum.
It was the first ever match of Indian Premier League. Everyone was elated. All were waiting for the high voltage first match of the league. It was a fight between the ex-colleagues, the ex-captain, and deputy of the Indian cricket team. Sourav Ganguly led Kolkata Knight Riders and Rahul Dravid led Royal Challengers Bangalore were facing each other in Bangalore. Brendon McCullum opened the KKR innings with the skipper. Sourav Ganguly (10) was sent back with KKR’s score 61. Then came Ricky Ponting (20) followed by David Hussey (12) and Mohammad Hafeez (5*). McCullum stayed till the end and kept of adding runs without caring about the frequent wicket losses at the other end. He blasted an unbeaten 158 off just 73 deliveries. It was absolutely a one-man show consisted of ten fours and thirteen sixes. This helped KKR to set a massive target of 222 for the loss of only three wickets.
For Bangalore, it was obviously a tough job and almost an impossible one. In 2008, maximum cricketers especially the senior ones were trying to adapt to this new format. But RCB collapsed pretty soon. Probably they were mentally not ready to give a fight. Bangalore scored only 82 in 15.1 overs. KKR won the game by 140 runs. It was a huge moment for Kolkata fans and also for IPL. The most anticipated cricket league got the perfect start. Incidentally, Brendon McCullum till date is the only batsman for Kolkata Knight Riders to hit a century.
It has been 12 years but not a single knight can score another IPL ton.
Watch Also: McCullum talking about his 158* for KKR
