Most dangerous cricketer in the world

There are not many cricketers who have played fearless cricket through out their career. Brendon Mccullum undoubtedly belongs to this rare set of cricketers.

He is the first cricketer to play in 100 consecutive tests since debut, fighting a persistent back problem that made him give up the gloves after starting his career as a wicketkeeper-batsman.

Just as he has never changed his Test cap since it was presented to him on the eve of his first Test in 2004, he has never changed his attack-at-all-cost batting approach.

He will never be remembered as the game’s greatest batsman but people will never forget the brand of cricket he endorsed through out his career.

As a young lad who is equally good at Cricket and Rugby but he chose Cricket since he felt that he is physically not that good to compete at International Level in Rugby.

As a batsman

If there’s anyone who can be compared with Sehwag when it comes to attacking play it has to be Baz.

Many a times he shimmied down the track and hit a fast bowler for a six

Ramp shot against Tait 155 kmph

As a fielder

As a captain

More than as a batsman who played flamboyant cricket he will be remembered as a captain who has transformed how a country plays cricket.

He took over captaincy from Ross Taylor in the most difficult times of New Zealand Cricket. And on the subsequent tour to South Africa, the Kiwis slumped to an embarrassing 45 all out in the first innings of the first test.

He admitted that New Zealand people deserve better brand of cricket and that failure was the beginning of a new determination in a side where the captain instilled a fighting spirit in a team which was never considered a favorite to win any big tournament.

I’ll not talk about the wins, losses, draws under his captaincy. Instead I’ll talk about his man management and leadership qualities. He lead the team as a natural leader who’s born for leading his team from front. He along with the support of his coach and selectors transformed New Zealand cricket playing some aggressive and entertaining cricket.

His aggressive captaincy is undoubtedly one big reason why New Zealand reached finals in 2015 world cup. He came up with some outrageous yet innovative tactics which worked for them in the tournament.

Use of slip cordon in ODIs

The wonderful thing about McCullum’s captaincy in the one-dayers was his use of the slip cordon. With high-quality swing bowlers like Trent Boult and Tim Southee at his disposal, it made sense to have a lot of men behind the wicket.

New Zealand often had 3 or 4 slips and 1 or 2 gullies waiting to pounce on edges. In addition, there were often men close-in in front of the wicket. This was classic Test match field placement in ODIs, in almost every match. Even in the World Cup semi-final against South Africa, Boult and Southee bowled to 4 slips and a gully.

In another match in the World Cup, against Scotland, McCullum took it a step further. Boult was given a scarcely believable 5 slips and a gully at one point, something which would be considered outrageously attacking even in Test cricket.

And even more stunningly, McCullum continued to retain his slip fielders during the middle-overs, when the field is traditionally more spread-out. 6 of the most innovative tactics used in Cricket in 2015

Finishing strike bowlers quota early

It is quite common sight in ODIs where captains give their opening bowlers 5-6 overs at the start so that they can bring them back in the late middle overs or at the death.

In the World Cup group match against Australia, McCullum did what many captains would consider crazy and unthinkable. By the 26th over, two of his bowlers Boult and Vettori had completed their quota of 10 overs. By the end of the 30th over, a third bowler, Southee had only one over left! They were left to bowl the last 20 overs with their lesser bowlers, Adam Milne, Corey Anderson and Grant Elliott, a dangerous and risky proposition especially against a team like Australia. But thanks to the wickets that the strike bowlers had taken earlier, they had to bowl only 14 balls of the last 20 overs, as Australia were all out for 145 in 32.2 overs.

The risk paid off and New Zealand scraped through after a fiery spell by Mitchell Starc.

In his last test match

Bradman after getting out for naught in his last test Innings said "It's not easy batting with tears in your eyes". A player will be going through a lot of emotions while playing his last match for his/her country. But Baz is known for keeping his emotions in check and even in his last test match he didn’t abandon his brand of cricket which is attack attack attack.

He arrived at the crease with New Zealand reduced to 32 for 3 in the 20th over of the innings. For Mccullum the best defense is a good offense.

He launched an immediate counterattack and brought his 100 in a mere 54 balls (the fastest in a test match).

The specialty of this century is it came on a lively pitch against a dominant Australian attack in a day one scenario that would traditionally have called for dogged defense to save wickets. He had his share of luck that day: edges flew over the slips, he was brilliantly caught off a no-ball. But as they say that day fortune favored the brave.

That innings of his like many others he has played over years lived up to his image: expressive, unencumbered and dashing.