Dwayne Bravo took 3/37 in his quota of four overs and took his tally to 150 wickets in 137 IPL matches averaging only 24.81. He performed well with the ball against Kolkata Knight Riders after going wicketless in the matches against SunRisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab. He was the top wicket-taker of both sides with three wickets but still, his team ended up losing against KKR by 10 runs.
The West Indian all-rounder bowled exceptionally well in the death overs and limited KKR to 167 after KKR looked on course for a good score with their opening batsman Rahul Tripathi top-scoring with 81.
Dwayne Bravo Was Looking To Be Defensive But MS Dhoni Wanted Him To Hit Hard Lengths
Dwayne Bravo took the key wicket of Rahul Tripathi along with tail-enders Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi as KKR set CSK a target of 168 to win. CSK started well with Shane Watson scoring 50 but slowed down in the middle overs to give away the match against KKR.
“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.”
Dwayne Bravo gave away only five runs and took two wickets of Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti in the final over.
Dwayne Bravo Wasn’t Frustrated After Being Injured But Was Happy To See Sam Curran And Josh Hazlewood Getting Experience
In the 17th over, he took Rahul Tripathi’s wicket and conceded seven runs. Dwayne Bravo was expensive in the 10th over as he went for 19 runs. He gave away six runs in the 8th over.
“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.
Lungi Ngidi picked four wickets in two matches averaging 23.5 and Sam Curran played all the six matches where he picked up seven wickets averaging 26. Josh Hazlewood played only one match where he went wicketless.