As England appointed Brendon
McCullum as their head coach, there is a lot of talk about his coaching style and
how he would be as a coach. McCullum is currently busy coaching Kolkata Knight
Riders (KKR) in the IPL. He would step down after the IPL and join the England
team.

Also Read: Brendon McCullum takes on England Test duties: Kiwi’s coaching record

McCullum, who retired
from international cricket five years ago, is an inexperienced coach in the
red-ball format. He managed KKR and Trinbago Knight Riders in the franchise
cricket.

England’s director of
cricket Rob Key has already warned that England under McCullum would play an
aggressive brand of cricket.  ECB
strategic adviser Andrew Strauss, the former England captain, said they were “blown
away” by the impressive vision of McCullum.

Also Read: Brendon McCullum appointed England’s new Test coach

Now Dinesh Karthik, who
worked with McCullum during his KKR days as a captain in 2019, applauded England
for choosing McCullum as their coach.

“The one thing I can
tell you in the enormous amounts of time I’ve spent with him is that there is
no negative bone in his body,” Karthik said in the ICC Review. “He is
somebody who wants to do everything positively.

Also Read: Brendon McCullum appointed England’s new Test coach

“So it’s going to be
very interesting when Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum meet up and figure out
what’s the positive way for England cricket to do things.

“Because there will be
times when they are obviously faced with tough wickets and the batters
sometimes will need to find a way between what is being positive and what is
being reckless. I think that’ll be a very interesting battle for them.”

Also Read: Stokes reluctant to miss white-ball games but ‘England schedule needs to be looked at’

Though McCullum is still an
inexperienced coach, Karthik said he will have to adapt to the role. “I
think there will be certain things that will be definitely new to Brendon
McCullum,” he said.

“There is no doubt
about it. Even though he has done his coaching bit for Kolkata Knight Riders
and for Trinbago Knight Riders, I think red-ball cricket is a completely
different kettle of fish.”

Also Read: Jofra Archer opens up about struggles with injury, ‘feared losing England contract’

The England men’s team has
been going through a torrid time – they lost the Ashes 4-0 in Australia, which saw former coach Chris Silverwood resigning, and
then suffered a series loss in the West Indies as well, prompting Joe Root to
step down as captain.

“I think McCullum wants
to take this up because he sees this as a major challenge,” Karthik said.
“A team that has obviously not done really well in the last two years. A
bit in the dumps but to try and resurrect and try and take them to the pinnacle
of Test cricket, which is what they are aiming to do.

Also Read: Ready to leave behind Andrew Flintoff, Ian Botham’s shadow, Ben Stokes takes on as England captain

When McCullum was the New
Zealand captain, McCullum was widely credited with improving the culture of the
team. This led to an improvement in results, culminating in some famous
victories.

Karthik said McCullum is a
relaxed coach and he inculcates the same attitude among his players. 

“It will be a very
relaxed dressing room,” Karthik said. “I’ve seen that he is somebody
who focuses a lot on playing a lot of sports off the field and off the field
having a lot of fun as well.

Also Read: James Anderson hopes to return to England squad alongside Stuart Broad

“He emphasizes a lot on
it like a young kid who likes to play all the sports possible and gets very
physical as well. He is a very strong man, there is no doubt about it.
Sometimes even too strong for the current cricketers today. It will be a very
relaxed dressing room, a very chill dressing room.