There is a fair argument that Brendon McCullum was the man who made the Indian Premier League. Forget Lalit Modi, forget the glitz and glamour and cheerleaders, it was Brendan McCullum's brutal unbeaten 158 in the first ever IPL match that grabbed the world's attention. In a couple of hours, he built himself a reputation of being one of the most sought-after hitters in the world. It's a reputation that he has carefully maintained with four more Twenty20 centuries, two of them for his country. Until the recent blitzkrieg from Aaron Finch, McCullum held the Twenty20 International world record with his 123, which rather made up for a distinctly mediocre start to his T20 International career. Since his first fifty in his eighteenth match, he has passed fifty once every four innings since.
Brendon McCullum is right at home in the shortest format.
Captain Marvel himself was unbeaten in two of those matches with the bat. Against the Faisalabad Wolves, he belted an authoritative 83 against a mostly international bowling attack. After a blip against the Kandurata Maroons, he had a blip, but came back with a 39-ball 67 to chase down the target set by Sunrisers Hyderabad. Brendon McCullum is a match-winner, and I will be rooting for his Otago side in this year's Champions League Twenty20.