In the history of cricket, there have not been many players who have been in the sport at the top of their game for over 15 years.
Today, we at Cricwizz will emphasize one such player in detail. Any guesses? Well, it's the 'Champion' from the West Indies, Dwayne Bravo.
Dwayne made his international debut in 2004 in April against England in an ODI. Bravo, since then has been at the apex of the list of all-rounders for a huge part of his career and he is still regarded as one of the best death-over bowlers in the world.
The Numbers Game!
Dwayne Bravo has featured in 40 Test matches, 164 ODIs, and 90 T20Is. He has also featured in 151 IPL matches and is still looking forward to playing more.
Dwayne Bravo Test Stats
Matches | Runs | Wickets | Average | Economy | Highest Score |
40 | 2200 | 86 | 31.43 | 3.18 | 113 |
Dwayne Bravo ODI Stats
Matches | Runs | Wickets | Average | Economy | Highest Score |
164 | 2968 | 199 | 25.37 | 5.41 | 112 |
Dwayne Bravo T20I Stats
Matches | Runs | Wickets | Average | Economy | Highest Score |
90 | 1245 | 78 | 22.23 | 8.1 | 66 |
It is clear to say that Dwayne Bravo has impressed everyone in every format he's played in and his versatility is commendable. Bravo has also featured in 151 IPL matches, scoring 1537 Runs, with an average of 22.94, picking 167 Wickets, and his highest score being 70.
He is also the only player to have picked 550 Wickets in T20s. Bravo has also won the ICC T20 World Cup twice, once in 2012 and then in 2016 by beating England. However, this time, West Indies will not be featuring in the semi-finals and that means they won't be defending the title.
#IPL2021 #DCvsCSK
— CricketNext (@cricketnext) October 10, 2021
A short delivery and Hetmyer pulls but doesn't get the distance
550 T20 wickets for Bravohttps://t.co/PqdUhElT0e
Dwayne Bravo first featured in the IPL for Mumbai Indians for the opening three seasons. He then moved to Chennai Super Kings in the 2011 IPL auctions and has also won the IPL twice with them, winning it in 2018 and 2021. Bravo also featured in the PSL league and won the title in 2019 when he signed for Quetta Gladiators.
In 2020, when playing for Trinbago Knight Riders, in one of the matches he became the first player to pick 100 Wickets in the Caribbean Premier League.
How it Started
Dwayne Bravo made his first-class debut in 2002 for Trinidad and Tobago when they played Barbados in 2002. His performance as an all-rounder pricked momentum when he scored a century and picked 6/11 in the same match against the Windward Islands that caught the eyes of the selectors.
As mentioned, Bravo's ODI career kicked off in 2004 and his performance led to his selection in the Test match against the same opponents, making his Test debut at Lords where he scored 44 in the first innings and picked three wickets as well.
A year later in 2005, Bravo scored his maiden Test century, scoring 107. However, the highlight of the series became something as Bravo accused Graeme Smith of directing a racist comment towards him. Due to no clear evidence, the case was dropped after which Smith demanded an apology.
Enough is Enough, we Just Want Respect: Dwayne Bravo on Racism
— CricketCountry (@cricket_country) June 10, 2020
More here: https://t.co/VfpcrOpmXO pic.twitter.com/3lrHz48d8V
But Bravo, who had the backing of the West Indies board refused to do so, and thus attracted numerous digs from the South African media.
The controversial shadow didn't leave Bravo as it led to him being dropped in the next series against Australia due to unspecified reasons.
But after a shambolic loss in the first Test, Bravo was recalled and he proved his selection to be worthy as he scored 113. Bravo had a great series as he then cemented his spot in the West Indies side.
Luck with injuries
Bravo's long career has been thwarted on various occasions by injuries, the first one being a strained left side. After featuring in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, Bravo missed the 2011 Cricket World Cup in India due to a knee injury.
However, with injuries prevailing until today, Bravo has always come out stronger and did the same, when he was instrumental in West Indies' T20 World Cup win in 2012.
Comeback from Setback
In 2015, Dwayne Bravo announced his retirement from Tests and three years later, in 2018, Bravo announced that he will be retiring from all forms for the game. However, after a year, he announced that he will be coming out of retirement.
Star on and off the field
In the year 2016, Bravo released his first single 'Champion' to commemorate West Indies' T20 World Cup win in 2016. The song went viral and was copied by players and stars all around the world.
What do you think? Will Bravo feature in the upcoming 2022 and 2023 T20 World Cup and Cricket World Cups respectively? How long will he play in the IPL?
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