The McCullum hand in New Zealand's renaissance

Speaking to Kritika Naidu and Kaushik Rangarajan of Cricbuzz, former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum opens up on why he retired when he did, what he did to bring back the "fun element" into his team's game, the method that made him a feared ball-striker, and his takeaways from an international career that lasted a decade and a half.

"My leadership style was very much about trying to rediscover the soul of the New Zealand cricket team; trying to bring back the essence of why we got into the game in the first place," he said about his mission when he took over as captain in 2012. "I played for 10 years where I was a part of the New Zealand cricket team but I didn't love the New Zealand cricket team. The last three years, we tried to bring back that real passion. It's amazing how much fun it can be as a player once you've rediscovered the innocence of cricket and why you got into the game in the first place.