Brendon McCullum to lead Lahore Qalandars in PSL

Former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum has been named as the skipper of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Lahore Qalandars for the second edition of the tournament.

According to a statement, the 34-year-old will replace Pakistan ODI captain, Azhar Ali, under whose leadership the team managed to win just two out of seven matches last season. Lahore ended the last season as the only team which failed to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament.

The official Twitter account of Lahore Qalandars announced the association of the New Zealand legend with their squad. The tweet reads – “We are proud to announce our Captain and Mentor for PSL 2 will be Brendon Mccullum. We welcome him to the #QalandarsClan#DamaDamMast.”

The news might be a huge blow for Ali, who’s captaincy in the 50-over format for Pakistan is already under the scanner as the men in green lost the recent ODI series 4-1 against England in England after the Misbah-ul-Haq led side squared the Test series 2-2.

McCullum has represented New Zealand in 101 Test matches, 260 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 71 T20 internationals (T20Is), where he scored 6453 runs, 6083 runs and 2140 runs across all the three formats.

The 34-year old is also the third-highest run-scorer in T20 format with 6,955 runs against his name at an average slightly over 31. Ever since his international retirement, McCullum has been featuring in different T20 leagues around the world.

He currently plays professionally with the Otago Volts at the provincial level, the Brisbane Heat in Australia’s Big Bash League, the Gujarat Lions in the IPL, Middlesex in the English domestic league and Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL.

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