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Australia batter Usman Khawaja's first run-in with Brendon McCullum, during the 2011 Test series between Australia and New Zealand, was far from pleasant, as per Fox Cricket.
"He absolutely tore shreds off me," Khawaja said, as quoted from Fox Cricket. "He sledged the crap out of me, like I'd never been sledged in international cricket before," the Australia batter added. However, when Khawaja faced McCullum again in the Test arena four years later in 2015, the New Zealand star had transformed himself. By then, McCullum had become the face of sportsmanship, even receiving the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for leading a New Zealand side known for its respectful and fair approach to the game. As captain, McCullum had also put an end to sledging within the Kiwi camp, a move that former Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson had mocked at the time. "It was really bizarre, a few years later when we played against him and he was captain...he was a totally different person," Khawaja said, as quoted from Fox Cricket. "He was chilled and just went about his business," he noted. After Australia's 2016 tour of New Zealand, which also marked McCullum's final Test series, Khawaja confronted him during the post-series drinks. It was then that the former New Zealand skipper apologised for the verbal jibes. "I won't say exactly the words that he said, but he was just like, 'Yeah. I was a bit of a...I've learned a lot and matured since then,'" Khawaja recalled. "But when I was young, he nailed me, so it is funny to see both sides," he added. "I respect someone who matures and looks back and thinks, 'Yeah, I probably wasn't playing the way I wanted to there.' I have nothing but respect for that," he said. Later that year, in his autobiography, McCullum admitted he wasn't proud of some of his conduct early in his career. He even recalled an incident from 2006, when he ran out Muttiah Muralitharan while the Sri Lankan was celebrating teammate Kumar Sangakkara's century, something he said he deeply regretted. "I wasted a few years trying to be brash and arrogant and hard-minded," McCullum penned. "It was a false attitude, not true to my character," he added. (ANI)
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