Naman Garg
Dwane Bravo has confirmed his retirement from all cricket after his final season in the CPL was cut short by injury. Bravo, who will be 41 next month, is the leading T20 wicket-taker in history. He had previously called time on his international career in 2021, and stepped away from the IPL last year, as he began to move into coaching. In the last 12 months he has worked with Chennai Super Kings and the Afghanistan men’s team. Bravo said in a post on Instagram that his mind wants to keep going, but his body can no longer endure the pain, the breakdowns, and the strain. He also said he can’t put himself in a position where he might let down his teammates, his fans, or the teams he represents.
So with a heavy heart he officially announced his retirement from the sport. Today, the Champion bids farewell. In an 18-year career, Bravo helped to set the benchmark in T20 cricket, winning titles at the IPL, PSL and Big Bash, as well as becoming a two-time world champion with West Indies. He finishes with 631 wickets in the format from 582 appearances – second only to his mate and countrymen Kieron Pollard.
Bravo announced before the ongoing edition of the CPL that it would be his last. He had been due to play in the third season of the UAE’s ILT20, having been retained by MI Emirates, but has decided to bow out after suffering a groin injury playing against St Lucia Kings in Tarouba on Tuesday.
Bravo was the most decorated player in CPL history, having won five titles in all, including three with Trinbago Knight Riders alone. He had led TKR to back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018 before captaining Patriots to their first title in 2021.In a number of T20 leagues around the world, especially at the CPL, Bravo has been harnessing his experience to nurture youngsters, settling into a role like MS Dhoni has been fulfilling for CSK for a while. During CPL 2021, for example, he took allrounder Dominic Drakes under his wing and helped transform him into a match-winner. Drakes came away with the Player-of-the-Match award in the CPL 2021 final and continued to work with Bravo in other leagues, including IPL (CSK) and T10 (Delhi Bulls).
Bravo has also worked closely with Ali Khan, the USA fast bowler, who also often fronts up to bowl at the death for TKR. Bravo had first spotted Khan in the US Open T20 tournament and signed him on for the Winnipeg Hawks in the Global T20 Canada, before recommending him to TKR. Now he has been signed by Kolkata knight Riders franchise as the team mentor with the purpose that he can replicate the same performance which he has done for other franchises to the Shahrukh khan’s KKR franchise for the IPL 2025. This agreement happened because the previous KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir is now head coach of the Indian cricket team.
