Brendon McCullum smashed 77 off 25 balls against England at Wellington on Friday, as New Zealand annihilated England by 8 wickets in a Pool A clash at the 2015 World Cup.

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McCullum is known for his appetite for scoring fast, and yet he has not been very consistent over the years. Things however, seem to changed somewhat for the better over the last year or two. Here we look at five of McCullum's best innings across formats.

1) 195 (134) against Sri Lanka (1st Test, Christchurch, 2014): On the surface, there was nothing extraordinary about this Test match. It was like any other Test in New Zealand which Sri Lanka ended up losing heavily. Except that Brendon McCullum thought it necessary to savage the Sri Lankan attack in the first innings. Coming in with New Zealand in a spot of bother at 88/3, McCullum destroyed the Lankan bowling, particularly spinner Tharindu Kaushal. He raced to a 74-ball century and then to 195 off 134 balls, hitting 11 sixes in the process. 

New Zealand managed 441 in the first innings and then bowled out Sri Lanka for 138, yet had to chase 107 in the 4th innings for a win. That puts the importance of McCullum's innings in perspective.

2) 116* (56) v/s Australia (2nd T20 International, Christchurch, 2010): Twenty20 matches can be a lot of fun. They are even more fun when McCullum is on a rampage. On this particular occasion, McCullum chose Australia as prey. After having lost the first Twenty20, New Zealand needed to win the second to draw the series. McCullum opened the batting and proceeded to smash 116 off 56 balls, taking New Zealand to 214 off their 20 overs. Which was just as well because Australia managed the same score and New Zealand had to win a Super Over to draw the series. 

3) 302 against India (2nd Test, Wellington, 2014): New Zealand had won the first Test, with McCullum scoring a double hundred. India needed to win the second to draw the series. They started on that goal in spectacular fashion, bowling out New Zealand for 192 and then scoring 438. Following the 246-run advantage, India reduced New Zealand to 94/5, putting them on the verge of a series-levelling win. But McCullum had other ideas, putting up a 352-run stand with keeper BJ Watling (who made 124) and then 179 with Jimmy Neesham, who made 137. By the time McCullum's innings was over and New Zealand had declared, India were fighting to save the match.

4) 158* (73) (IPL Game 1, 2008): What better way to kick off an inaugural Twenty20 league than to bludgeon one of the greatest centuries in a Twenty20 match? The very first IPL match, Kolkata Knight Riders v/s Royal Challengers Bangalore, saw McCullum smash 158 off just 73 balls to take Kolkata to 222/3 off 20 overs. The next highest score was Ricky Ponting's 20 off 20 balls. Bangalore in response collapsed to 82 all out.

5) 77 (25) v/s England (Wellington, World Cup 2015, Pool A): What was a competitive match on paper began and ended in farce for England. Opting to bat first, England were shot out for 123 as pacer Tim Southee took a career-best 7/33. New Zealand could have comfortably won, but McCullum wanted to go home early. He began in imperious fashion, taking his team to 96 off 6 overs at one point. Steven Finn was the worst hit, conceding 49 off his two overs including 29 off one of them. Along the way he broke his own record for the fastest fifty in a World Cup. After McCullum was out, New Zealand slowed down, but still finished the match in just over 12 overs to register one of the most lopsided victories in World Cup history.