Colin Munro ready to take over Brendon McCullum’s role

New Zealand won many a hearts in the 50-over ICC World Cup Down Under by playing an aggressive brand of cricket under Brendon McCullum and went all the way to final before losing to Australia.

“We all know about the contributions of Brendon to the game. But we do not need to worry about his absence. We have a balanced team and hopefully we will play to our potential and try to win as many matches as possible,” Brendon’s brother Nathan said on Tuesday here.

The team now under Kane Williamson want to continue the retired McCullum’s legacy and the onus will be on aggressive players like Colin Munro to deliver if NZ want to win their first ever World Cup.

Munro smashed the second fastest T20 fifty in just 14 balls against Sri Lanka earlier this year. “If I could do half of what Brendon has done I will be happy. Towards the end of his career he played with freedom. I also want to go out there as an aggressive option and have some fun in the middle. I want to stay true to the game plan,” said Munro.

Pressure on India: Elliot All-rounder Grant Elliot, who like Munro adds South African flavour to NZ, felt pressure will be on favourites India. “We have two warm up games and we want to enjoy them and get used to conditions, try to find a bit of form. India are favourites which puts pressure on them. Home ground has its advantages and disadvantages like burden of expectations,” Elliot said.