Dwayne Bravo ready for international return after change of guard at WICB
New Delhi, Dec 13: West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo on Friday announced his return to international cricket, little over a year after he called it quits due to a bitter fallout with his country's Board.
Bravo said the decision was prompted by the change of guard in the Cricket West Indies (CWI), where former team manager Ricky Skerritt took over as the new president replacing Dave Cameron earlier this year.
"Today I confirm the announcement of my decision to return to International Cricket to all my fans and well wishers all around the world," the 36-year-old said in a statement.
"It's no secret that this big announcement has come as a result of the changes made at the administration level. For a while now I have been contemplating my return to international cricket and my decision was solidified by these positive changes," he added.
Bravo had a bitter spat with Cameron and had accused him of destroying careers. This was after a Bravo-led West Indies team abandoned a tour of India in 2014 midway during an ODI series owing to a pay dispute with the WICB.
The Caribbean side is currently in India for a limited-overs series, the T20 leg of which ended 2-1 in favour of the hosts. The three one-dayers will get underway on Sunday.
"With the current leadership of coach Phil Simmons and captain Kieron Pollard I'm really excited about this come back and about the chance to be part of something really special," Bravo said.
"We have a lot of young talent on the team as well as cricketers with a wealth of experience such as Pollard, (Lendl) Simmons and Jason Holder and I believe that I can contribute to a positive change.
"With a powerful team such as ours we can definitely rebuild the WI T20I cricket team on and off the field and improve our rankings. I will remain fully committed to WI T20 team once selected. Thank you to all my fans and supporters for your continuous support as always," he added.
Although he announced his retirement in 2018, Bravo has not played for the West Indies since September 2016.
His last international appearance was a T20I against Pakistan in the UAE.
Earlier in November, the 36-year-old hinted that he is considering playing international cricket again while congratulating the West Indies team for a 3-0 clean sweep over Afghanistan in an ODI series in Lucknow.
Bravo featured in 40 Tests, 164 ODIs and 66 T20Is for the West Indies. He has scored 6310 runs across all formats and bagged 337 wickets to go with it.
He still continues to play T20 cricket for franchises like the Chennai Super Kings (IPL), Lahore Qalandars (PSL), Melbourne Renegades (BBL), Trinbago Knight Riders (CPL), Winnipeg Hawks (Canada).
He recently played for Maratha Arabians, who won the Abu Dhabi T10 League.
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Du Plessis fifty, bowlers carry RCB to four-wicket win over GT
Bengaluru, May 4: Royal Challengers Bengaluru pressed the self-destruction button halfway but a blazing fifty by captain Faf du Plessis had enough torque in it to carry them to a four-wicket over Gujarat Titans in their IPL match here on Saturday.
Du Plesiss (64, 23b, 10x4, 3x6) and Kohli (42, 27b, 2x4, 4x6), who added 92 runs in just 35 balls for the opening wicket, were in prime touch as Royal Challengers moved past a frail target of 148, braving some nervy moments, most of it their own creation.
The win also lifted RCB to seventh place on the table with eight points from 11 matches, and kept their mathematical chances of making it to the play-offs alive.
Du Plessis and Kohli dealt in boundaries as the home side racked in 92 runs in Power Play, that contained 10 fours and seven maximums.
Both Du Plessis and Kohli were severe on all GT bowlers, as the latter began the butchering with two sixes off pacer Mohit Sharma in the first over.
Du Plessis was in no mood to play the role of a sidekick as he waded into left-arm pacer Josh Little with a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 4 in the second over that produced a total of 20 runs.
The Titans introduced IPL debutant left-arm spinner Manav Suthar in the hope of containing Kohli at least, but the ploy was foiled spectacularly.
The RCB talisman showed his increasing comfort against spin, clobbering Suthar for two successive sixes.
Du Plessis reserved his punitive blade for Mohit, whom he carted around for four fours in the fifth over, as the South African reached fifty in just 18 balls before falling to Little.
RCB entered a phase of struggle from there as they lost last match centurion Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green between the sixth and 10th overs for just 20 runs.
Little (4/45) and spinner Noor Ahmad (2/23) were the chief perpetrators as RCB slipped from 92 for 1 to 112 for five.
Ahmad soon ousted Kohli as RCB were 117 for six but Dinesh Karthik (21 not out, 12b) was cool under pressure as RCB notched their overall fourth and third win in a row of this season.
Before RCB batsmen joined the party, their bowlers came up with an immaculate effort on a supportive pitch to bowl GT to a modest 147.
There were a couple of good partnerships – 61 between David Miller and Shahrukh Khan and 44 by Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan – but the Titans lacked that one big innings or a stand that could have given them a firmer grip on the match.
In fact, they seemed distinctly incapable of accelerating even in the Power Play as their top-order batters struggled against RCB pacers, Mohammed Siraj (2/29) and Yash Dayal (2/21) who stuck to a wonderful length.
That GT managed to strike just two fours in Power Play offered ample evidence to their struggle and RCB bowlers’ accuracy.
The Gujarat side’s Power Play score of 23 for three was the lowest in the segment this season, and it was mainly due to Siraj’s domination upfront.
He consumed an out-of-form Wriddhiman Saha with a fine outswinger which the GT opener wafted to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps.
Shubman Gill followed soon as his attempted swat to the on-side off Siraj took a leading edge and ended in the hands of Vysakh Vijayakumar at deep point.
Green fetched the third wicket for RCB in the Power Play when he jettisoned in-form B Sai Sudharsan, whose feeble pull close to the body was snaffled by Kohli at mid-off.
Miller (30, 20b) and Shahrukh (37, 24b) tried their best to drag GT out of the woods with a well-paced 61-run alliance off 37 balls for the fourth wicket.
Miller, who was fortunate to get dropped on 23 off Green by Karn Sharma, played archetypal power shots.
He punished leg-spinner Karn for a couple of sixes – a pull and a loft over extra cover – but fell to the same bowler when a miscued heave was grabbed by Maxwell at deep.
But a bigger misfortune was in store for the visitors as Shahrukh, who backed up a tad too far to Rahul Tewatia’s soft drop, could not beat a throw from Kohli to the non-striker’s end.
For the sixth-wicket, Tewatia (35, 21b) and Rashid (18, 14b) added 44 off 29 balls, but the latter’s desire to be innovative against Yash Dayal saw the ball crashing onto the stumps.
Tewatia, who punished Karn for 18 runs (4, 6, 4, 4) in the 16th over, departed soon.
