Brendon McCullum, the New Zealand wicket-keeper and once vice-captain has said that he had once decided to quit the New Zealand cricket contract to be associated with the IPL on a full time basis. However, he changed his mind while he was holidaying in Fiji with his wife. IMAGE>
McCullum has said this in his latest book, Inside Twenty20, in which he has written about the IPL and other T20 tournaments.
McCullum has also said that he felt that he had to go back in the third edition of the tournament, in order to overcome the grief he felt from the second one. In the second edition of the IPL, McCullum was the captain of his Kolkata Knight Riders and they finished last. McCullum had failed with the bat as well.
McCullum said, “I had started to question how important cricket was to me … This issue of signing, or not signing, my NZC contract brought it to a head. I needed to give something up to understand it and in the end what I did not want to give up was my full and utter commitment to New Zealand.”
He also added that he was a tad disappointed when fans accused him of putting self ahead of the country. He said that in no other industry would one be expected to give up on a lot of money as an option.