File photo of Dwayne Bravo.
Chennai Super Kings death bowling has been back to their very best in the past few games as that was pretty much visible in back-to-back performances against Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders, when the sides were halted from scoring big despite a strong build-up leading to the death overs.
Dwayne Bravo has been an integral part of that as his ability to keep tight line and length, along with variation in pace, has always proved to be a key ingredient in stopping the run barrage.
KKR on Thursday got to see the best of it when Bravo just gave away 12 runs in the death overs, including just five in the final overs to restrict the purple-clad outfit at 167 in Abu Dhabi. He took the important wicket of a set and firing Rahul Tripathi (81) in the 17th over to take the fizz away from KKR innings.
He capped it off with two wickets in the final over and celebrated his 37th birthday in style by becoming the fifth bowler in the IPL to pick 150 wickets. His 150th scalp turned out to be tailender Shivam Mavi.
His tally makes him the joint fifth highest wicket-taker in the cash-rich league with veteran CSK teammate Harbhajan Singh, who opted out of this IPL over personal reasons.
He now trails to Lasith Malinga (170), Amit Mishra (160), and Piyush Chawla (156) for the spot as the highest wicket-taker in IPL.
Bravo also holds the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in a particular season of IPL, finishing with 32 scalps in the 2013 season.
He along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the only two bowlers to have won the Purple Cap twice. But in IPL 2020, ‘Champion’ Bravo was wicket-less after two matches.
