New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has said that he was all the time thinking about late Australian batsman Phillip Hughes during his fiery double hundred against Pakistan in Sharjah on Saturday.
McCullum, who was a one-time teammate of Hughes, said that the Australians are all in their thoughts, hearts and in Hughes' case, their memories.
Hughes passed away on Thursday after suffering a severe injury to his head from a bouncer by South Australia's paceman Sean Abbott in a New South Wales match in Sydney, Sport24 reported.
McCullum said that the thoughts of his whole team were with Hughes. He added that cricket is a sport, but the cricket community is a family, claiming that they are there for Hughes, they are thinking of him.
McCullum, who played with Hughes in Twenty20 cricket in Australia, made a robust 188-ball 202 against Pakistan studded with 21 fours and 11 towering sixes to help his team pile a mammoth 637-8 on the third day of the third and final Test.
This becomes McCullum's third double-hundred in a year, making him the fourth batsmen to do so, matching Australia's trio of Don Bradman, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke.
The big total gave New Zealand a lead of 286 and set them strongly for a series-levelling win.
Pakistan lead the three-match series 1-0 after winning the first Test and drawing the second, the report added.
