The Dwayne Bravo of old emerged Wednesday night as Chennai Super Kings took on Kolkata Knight Riders. Bravo, a two-time T20 World Cup winner, who missed the first three games of the season for CSK due to an injury, picked up his 150th IPL wicket, and even though CSK lost the match by 10 wickets, the way the allrounder bowled in the death and tightened the lid on KKR’s scoring took the cake.
In four overs, Bravo picked up 3/37, including the key wicket of Rahul Tripathi. Known to be a big threat in death overs, Bravo lived up to the moniker when he gave just five runs off the final over of the innings and picked up two wickets – Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi – for the landmark scalp.
During the innings interval, Bravo, who has been MS Dhoni’s go-to man in the death, explained how the CSK skipper’s inputs helped him big time and dispel any doubts he may have had.
“I was looking to be defensive but MS Dhoni wanted me to hit the hard lengths and keep the new batsman on strike for as long as possible. It is good to have this experience around and have these discussions. I stuck to bowling the hard lengths and it worked,” Bravo said.
“It is a very good batting wicket and there isn’t much grip. Most batsmen look for my slower balls. The yorker is the best ball and the safest ball. The game plan was to bowl wide and bowl as many yorkers as possible.”
Also Read | Way forward in T20s – playing in the ‘reverse V’
This was Bravo’s third match since his return and prior to Wednesday night’s game, the all-rounder had gone wicketless against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab. Having missed the first few games, one would think that Bravo would be frustrated, but the senior campaigner said it wasn’t the case at all.
“I wasn’t frustrated, obviously I came in with a groin injury but I was happy to see guys like Sam Curran and Hazlewood get good experience. At my age it doesn’t make sense to play all games. When I get the opportunity, I back myself to do well,” he said.
Source: IPLT20.com