During the first edition of IPL back in 2008, the opening match was played between KKR and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Former New Zealand batter Brendon McCullum revealed how his unbeaten knock of 158 runs for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on the inaugural night of the Indian Premier League (IPL) changed his life forever.
During the first edition of IPL back in 2008, the opening match was played between KKR and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Upon winning the toss, RCB elected to bowl first. Little did they know, that a Kiwi batsman will steal the show and be putting on a blockbuster show for the world to witness.
Put into bat, KKR got off to the best possible start as openers Brendon McCullum and Sourav Ganguly smashed a 61-run stand in just 5.2 overs.
McCullum, in the final four overs, managed to add 56 runs more to take his individual score to 158*. This to his knock, KKR managed to hoist a mammoth score of 222/3 in the allotted twenty overs.
On the chase, RCB's batting line-up failed miserably and were all-out for 82 runs, as KKR won the match by 140 runs.
"You talk about sliding doors, and moments in your careers and in lives. That night, my life changed completely in the space of those three hours or actually, even an hour and a half," KKR's official website quoted McCullum as saying.
"Why was I the one who got that opportunity to be able to go and face [the] first [delivery] with Sourav Ganguly? How did I get a chance to play in the first game, have the first opportunity to bat in such a huge tournament for world cricket? How was I even able to grab that opportunity? How much luck did I have along the way?"
"Honestly, I don't know the answers to any of these, but what I do know is that it changed my life forever," he added.
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 "Brendon McCullum, Sourav Ganguly")
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