Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt slammed cricketer-turned coach Brendon McCullum, saying the former New Zealand skipper brings ‘senseless cricket in the garb of fearless cricket.’
Butt was answering fan queries during his YouTube show when he slammed McCullum, the current Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) coach. The former Pakistan cricketer added that the Kiwi knows only one way and that is to attack while ignoring the conditions and the opposition.
“McCullum has some issues. He knows one way. He won’t look at the pitch, the venue, what can we score, how much we need for a particular opposition. He just says play freely, score quickly. He starts senseless cricket in the garb of fearless cricket at times,” Butt said.
The Lahore-born Butt also highlighted McCullum’s tenure as captain of the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League. Under the captaincy of McCullum, Lahore finished in the bottom of the points table of the 2017 and 2018 editions.
“We saw a lot of that in Lahore Qalandars. The meaning of McCullum’s fearless cricket was to keep your brains aside and just keep on hitting without looking back. If you have lost 7 out of 10 wickets with 15 overs remaining, he still wanted the team to play that attacking way. Lahore gave a lot of chances to him but his method didn’t work out. That kind of tactic can work on good pitches but it’s not a remedy for all conditions. As a coach, you must plan for all conditions,” Butt added.
The coach and captain duo of McCullum and Iyer’s KKR are in the sixth position on the IPL points table. McCullum, who has been appointed as England’s Test team’s head coach, will step down from the KKR position following the conclusion of the 2022 season.
