‘I call him my brother, always fight whether he should bowl slower balls': Dhoni praises Bravo's bowling show vs RCB

After defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 wickets, MS Dhoni highlighted Dwayne Bravo’s improved fitness and stated that he calls the latter his ‘brother’.

Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni lavished massive praise on Caribbean all-rounder Dwayne Bravo from his match-winning performance against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday.

MS Dhoni (L) with DJ Bravo (R)(CSK / Instagram)

Put to bat first, RCB went off to a flier after skipper Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal stitched a century stand for the opening wicket. However, Bravo struck in the 14th over to dismiss the RCB captain for 53 and changed the course of the game. Kohli’s dismissal triggered RCB’s collapse as they went from 111 for 0 in 13.1 overs to get restricted to 156 for 6 in 20 overs. Bravo returned with a figure of 3-24.

After winning the game by 6 wickets, Dhoni highlighted Bravo’s improved fitness and stated that he calls the latter his ‘brother’.

“He [Bravo] has turned up fit, that is a very good thing. And he is executing very well. I call him my brother. We always have the fight every year as to whether he needs to bowl so many slower balls or not.

“I said 'you do it to bluff the batsmen but now everyone knows Bravo is known for the slower deliveries. So why not bowl 6 different deliveries whether it's yorker or length. Let them be surprised by saying 'oh he didn't bowl the slower one'. That's what it's all about bluffing. 'You want to confuse the batsman'. That's another way,” Dhoni said during the post-match presentation.

“He is an ace when it comes to this format. He has played all over the world, in different conditions, whenever the team needs him, he has taken up responsibility and done well for us,” he added.

The CSK captain also revealed that he had thought about bringing Moeen Ali into the attack changed his mind. Instead, he decided to hand the ball to Bravo to provide the much-needed breakthrough.

“We were worried about the dew, so whenever there’s chances of dew, we want to bat second. They got off to a good start but after ninth over wicket slowed down. You still had to bowl tight, and Jadeja's spell was important with Padikkal batting from one end. After that Bravo, Josh, Shardul, Deepak were brilliant. It’s always on the back of your mind on which bowler can be effective over here,” Dhoni said. 

“I had told Moeen before drinks that he would be bowling soon, but then I decided Bravo should bowl. The more you delay Bravo, the more difficult it is since he will end up bowling four straight overs in these difficult conditions,” he added.

RCB set a 157-run traget to chase for CSK. In reply, Dhoni & Co. won the game with 11 balls to spare to move up in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 points table.