Bravo this, Bravo that

DWAYNE Bravo says Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) fans are sometimes hard to please, as in past tournaments they complained about his bowling, and this year people were longing for the return of the man who captained the TT franchise to three Caribbean Premier League (CPL) titles.

Bravo missed the entire 2019 Hero CPL after injuring a finger on his left hand shortly before the tournament bowled off in early September.

TKR started the tournament with four consecutive victories, but lost steam and went on a six-match winless run that included five losses and a no result.

After defeating St Kitts and Nevis in the eliminator, TKR were knocked out by eventual winners Barbados Tridents in qualifier two (semifinal) at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba.

Yesterday at Newsday, discussing his injury, Bravo said, "The screws are out now, the wires are out, so now it is full-on therapy...it is going to take a long process to get back my full range, but it is healing and that is important, and hopefully I will start playing again."

Bravo said he is hoping to return to the field in about six weeks.

"I don't want to rush it, because again, it is very crucial, my finger, and whenever you have an injury you don't want to go back into it quick, without it healing properly."

Bravo has had a love-hate relationship with the TKR fans. In previous tournaments he would be criticised for bowling expensive overs at the death. But this season the TKR fans were missing the player who led the TT franchise to titles in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

Laughing, Bravo said, "I not sure if they miss my bowling, because everybody when I play, always abuse my bowling. 'Bravo don't bowl, don't bowl the last over, don't bowl the 19th over. Bravo this, Bravo that.' Now this year everyone crying for Bravo.

"What you crying for Bravo for? Last season all yuh kill Bravo; he win. The season before they try to kill Bravo; he win. This year, no Bravo, allyuh sad, Why they sad now?

"We, as a people – it's so weird, it's crazy."

The medium pacer, who has taken almost 100 wickets in six seasons of the CPL, believes he would have made an impact if he had been fit.

"I miss playing with the team and I know definitely it showed up that with bat and ball I could have made a big difference with my experience. But that is life. I think it is good that another team win the CPL, so everyone who saying CPL is designed for TKR, now they have a different song to sing."

He said he enjoyed passing on his knowledge to his TKR teammates during the tournament from the sidelines, but admitted he felt left out during the semifinal.

"The only time I literally miss the action is when I walked on the field for the semifinals in Tarouba. The other games, I accepted that I could not play and was no longer part of the tournament, but that moment, seeing the crowd and everybody – and it is a big game, it is a knock-out game – I am there and I cannot do anything."