Dwayne Bravo is a West Indies cricketer, and one of the best all-rounders in the T20 format of the game. He was born on 7th October 1983 at Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago. The all-rounder is a right-handed batsman and right-handed medium-fast bowler. Bravo’s trademark juicy full-toss dips in sharply in the last moment like a football free-kick and knocks over the stumps.
At the age of 10, Bravo was selected in the Queen’s Park Cricket Club Under-15 side and started bowling at 17. As an opener; Bravo had a lean 2002 ICC U-19 World Cup. Bravo scored 31 runs in two innings in his first-class debut for Trinidad and Tobago against Barbados in Busta Cup in February 2002. He toured with West Indies A side in England in 2002. His prolific 2003 season, especially a ton and 6 for 11 against Windwards islands brought him closer to the national team. Bravo domestically represented Trinidad and Tobago and played for Trinbago Knight Riders in Caribbean Premier League.
After plying his skills for the Mumbai Indians in the first three seasons where he played 30 matches and took 26 wickets, Bravo was taken up by the Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2011 IPL. He went on to become one of the main faces of the franchise along with skipper MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina. His persona matched the franchise's fan base and he was one of the vital cogs of Chennai's success. He also performed well in the 2013 IPL playing for Chennai Super Kings, taking 32 wickets at an average of 9.15 to win the Purple Cap and overthrow Albie Morkel to become Chennai Super Kings's leading wicket taker. His all-round usefulness led the CSK think tank to retain him ahead of the 2014 season. During IPL 2014 he sustained a shoulder injury in the first match against Kings XI Punjab and was subsequently ruled out of the remaining matches.Ahead of IPL 2016, the West Indian all-rounder was picked by the new team Gujarat Lions in the player draft. Come 2018 IPL Player Auction, he was picked up by CSK at Rs. 6.40 crore using Right to Match card.
Bravo picked two wickets in his ODI debut against England at Georgetown in April 2004. In his third match, a brisk 12 runs in 6 balls helped West Indies to seal the match. In May 2006, Bravo steered West Indies to victory against India with unbeaten 61 and taking three wickets in the fourth ODI along with holding his nerve to pick Yuvraj Singh at a crucial time in the second ODI. Bravo played in all of West Indies games at the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies. He had a disappointing World Cup scoring 129 runs at an average of 21.50 and although he took 13 wickets at 27.76 his economy rate was 5.56. He was ruled out from the 2011 Cricket World Cup in India due to the knee injury when he slipped at the wicket while bowling to South African batsman on 24 February at Delhi. He was rested for four weeks and could not participate further in the tournament.Against South Africa he conceded 69 runs off 7 overs including 18 off his first over. Bravo pulled out from India tour due to a dispute over payment structure with West Indies board in after the fourth ODI in October 2014 which was his last ODI.
Three months later, he took three wickets scoring 44 and 10 in the two innings in his international test debut against England at Lord’s. He displayed grit scoring 77 runs and scalping six wickets for 55 in the fourth test in Manchester. Bravo amassed 213 runs in two tests against Australia including a patient 113 in Hobart and 6 for 86 in Adelaide in November 2005. Due to injury and preference to T-20 leagues, Bravo played only 40 tests out of 81 tests of West Indies till 2013. He played last test in December 2010 ultimately retiring in January 2015 from the tests.
In his T20I debut, Bravo evinced his all-round skill taking two wickets and scoring 19 runs off 16 balls in a tied game against New Zealand in Auckland in February 2006. He scored 154 runs at 38.50 taking 10 wickets at 18.40 in 2009 ICC World T20. Bravo’s four wickets and 66 runs off 36 balls won the match against India at Lord’s. He then played in all of West Indies games at the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 in India, which the West Indies won. His high quality death bowling is considered to be one of the main reasons that the West Indies won the titleBravo became the first bowler to take 400 T20 wickets in CPL 2020. In early 2020, Bravo earned a surprise recall to the West Indies T20I side with it being a World Cup year and one more T20 World Cup scheduled in 2021. However, with the World Cup postponed due to COVID-19, it needs to be seen if Bravo would get a second call-up or not.
Bravo loved playing cricket and football in his childhood, but it was Brian Lara who inspired him to play cricket. In 2008, when he was playing for Mumbai Indians in IPL 1, West Indies had a match scheduled against Australia in Jamaica and it was difficult for him to reach there on time. But, thanks to Mumbai Indians owner Mukesh Ambani, who helped Bravo to travel Jamaica in his private jet, before the Test. He is an avid music lover and had a singles Beenie Man N Bravo with Beenie Man and Guyanese dance hall star Timeka Marshall. In 2013, he made a special appearance in a Tamil film called Ula. He launched his music single "Chalo Chalo" in Chennai on 3 May 2015. His Champion song has also garnered a lot of rave reviews.
