Harbhajan Singh pays tribute to retiring Dwayne Bravo; 'A champion player'

Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh on Saturday paid tribute to West Indies veteran Dwayne Bravo ahead of his final game in Maroon. Harbhajan turned to Twitter to send wishes to Bravo for his future endeavours and also wished him well for his last international game. All-rounder Dwayne Bravo announced Thursday that he would retire from all forms of international cricket after West Indies' last game in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Notably, Bravo had earlier announced retirement from all formats of cricket in 2018 but came back to play T20Is in December 2019.

"Self-proclaimed 'Sir' 'Champion' Bravo. What you have done for us and West Indies Cricket is phenomenal. We as cricketers, me being younger than you and a whole lot of all-rounders as I start with started a trend with us West Indies Cricket some 18 years ago, 17 years ago when you made your debut. You have always been a joy and an enjoyable character and more importantly, you have been a good friend.  Your service to the West Indies Cricket has been immense," West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard said ahead of Bravo's last game on Saturday.

A look into Bravo's illustrious career

Bravo made his international debut for West Indies way back in 2004. Since then, he has played 40 Test matches, 164 ODI games, and 89 T20Is. The all-rounder has 2,200 runs and 86 wickets in the longest form of the game and has amassed  2,968 runs and 199 wickets in ODI cricket. In the T20Is, Bravo claims 1,243 runs and 77 wickets to his name. Bravo was the key member of the West Indies side that won the 2014 and 2016 editions of the ICC T20 World Cup.

Bravo currently plays domestic T20 leagues across the world and is most likely to continue playing franchise cricket until the next couple of years. Bravo had come into the T20 World Cup on the back of a brilliant season with Chennai Super Kings at IPL 2021. The 38-year-old played a total of 11 matches for CSK and picked up 14 wickets at an average of 18.78. CSK beat Kolkata Knight Riders in the final of the lucrative tournament, where Bravo picked 1 wicket in 4 overs to help his side lift its fourth title. 

Image: PTI/AP