McCullum by Pasternak

Tishani Doshi on her cricinfo blog has said that McCullum's IPL journey may just have been scripted by Chekhov. A glamorous team that excels only at losing has something tragicomic about.

Let me go a step further and add another Russian writer to that idea. McCullum's current script can also be scripted by Boris Pasternak (Doctor Zhivago). In many ways McCullum is the inherently decent guy caught in a crossfire. Like Zhivago he tries to do the right thing, but is often undone by forces beyond his control. It is a classic Russian tragedy. The protagonist, like McCullum, can try, try and try but will eventually only lose, through no fault of his own.