Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo are long-time good friends and share a great camaraderie. The two West Indian legends have been at the helm of T20 cricket in the past decade and have often gone toe to toe against each other.
Sometimes Bravo comes out on top, while sometimes it is Pollard who has the last laugh, but both continue to share a great bond and have huge mutual respect for one another.
The same respect was shown was Dwayne Bravo when he touched the feet of Pollard a little while before the two were set to compete against each other in the Mumbai Indians-Chennai Super Kings game at the DY Patil Stadium on Thursday.
About an hour before the game, as Pollard was walking out to practice, Bravo showed up and straightaway touched his compatriot’s feet. Pollard hugged Bravo tightly; both had a small chat before walking towards their respective camps with a smile on their faces.
You can watch the video here:
— Diving Slip (@SlipDiving) April 21, 2022
This gesture by Bravo could have been in regard to Pollard retiring from international cricket on Wednesday. The West Indian limited-overs skipper surprised everyone with an unforeseen decision where he announced that he’s retiring from international duties just 6 months before the T20 World Cup in Australia.
Taking to his Instagram, Kieron Pollard wrote: “After careful deliberation, I’ve today decided to retire from international cricket. As is the case of many young persons, it was a dream of mine to represent the West Indies team from the time I was a boy of 10 years and I’m proud to have represented West Indies cricket for over 15 years in both the T20I and ODI forms of the game.
“I can still vividly remember making my international debut in 2007 under the leadership of my childhood hero, Brian Lara. Wearing those maroon colours and playing alongside such greats has been a privilege that I never took lightly, giving my heart and soul in every facet of the game – whether bowling, batting or fielding.”
Taking over the limited-overs captaincy in 2019, Pollard led West Indies in 61 matches in the two formats, winning 25 of those and losing 31. The Trinidad-born all-rounder played 123 ODIs, scoring 2706 runs at an average of 26.01 with three centuries and 13 fifties, in addition to taking 55 wickets; in 101 T20Is, he scored 1569 runs at a strike rate of 135.14.
Pollard was part of the West Indies side that won the 2012 T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, defeating the hosts in the final. Last year, he became only the third batsman in international cricket – after Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh – to smack six sixes in an over, when he slammed Sri Lankan spinner Akila Dananjaya for six sixes in an over.
