CSK players celebrate the birthday of Kedar Jadhav.
Dwayne Bravo has never understood the age-related fuss that crops up every time Chennai Super Kings win a match because for him smart always trumps fast in any sport. CSK defeated Delhi Capitals in their second IPL match on Tuesday night and Bravo could barely hold back when the age question was thrown at him at the post-match press conference.
"We are aware of our age. It's there and you can google it but that's nothing. We are not 60 year-olds, we are 35, 32-year-olds. We are still young, we look after our bodies and we have a lot of experience," Bravo hit back at the critics.
It's the experience of handling crunch situations that makes CSK a cut above the rest with the "best captain in the world" leading the side, said Bravo.
"In any sport, in any tournament, you just cannot beat experience. We know our weaknesses and we play smart and we are well led by the best captain in the world. And he (Dhoni) keeps reminding us that you know we are not the fastest team, but we can be the smartest team," the former West Indies all-rounder said.
For CSK, it's more about situational awareness rather than long-drawn tactical planning said Bravo.
Asked if there is a strategy to bat around Dhoni, he replied: "We don't plan. We don't have team meetings. We just turn up and go with the flow. MS has a style, and every player has a style. We just watch the situation and adapt quickly and that's where experience comes in."
It was Bravo's over that changed the match when he dismissed Rishabh Pant and Colin Ingram in quick succession.
"MS wanted me to bowl a straighter line, onto the stumps, wicket to wicket, a lot of seam ups. So today I bowled a lot more effort balls than in other games. Normally, I bowl a lot of slower balls, a lot of variations, yorkers but today the wicket wasn't suitable for that type of deliveries.
"And again MS standing behind the stumps, he knew exactly what was required and he also knew that he could count on me at any point in time to deliver for him," the Trinidad and Tobago cricketer said.
Having retired from international cricket, Bravo admitted that life of a T20 freelancer is tough. Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine, of late, have learnt it the hard way with some underwhelming performances.
"It's tough, it's very tough. Yes, we haven't played international cricket for a while, but you can see from our performances and the way we play that our cricket is developing even more when we play international cricket.
"I am already retired, but it isn't their (Narine and Pollard) fault that they are not playing international cricket. Having said that, when we play these leagues, we still learn, we still develop our skills. So whenever we come in for tournaments like these, we are able to deliver."
