Chennai Super Kings pacer DJ Bravo had a brilliant day with the ball against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday at the Wankhede for the opening game of the IPL 2022 season.
DJ Bravo returned with brilliant bowling figures of 3/40 in his four overs and kept CSK alive in their defence of a below-par total of 131. However, KKR batters comfortably crossed the line, winning the game by 6 wickets in hand.
With the three wickets on Saturday, Bravo has now equalled Lasith Malinga’s tally of 170 IPL wickets to become the joint-highest wicket-taker in the history of IPL! However, DJ Bravo has played several more games than Malinga to reach 170 IPL wickets.
While DJ Bravo picked his 170 scalps in 151 IPL games, Malinga did it in 122 matches; Malinga’s bowling average and economy of 19.79 and 7.14 are also better than Bravo’s 24.01 and 8.34.
Anyway, Bravo and Lasith Malinga are the two greatest death overs bowlers in the IPL and now the West Indian is set to go past the Sri Lankan to become leading wicket-taker in the tournament.
Bravo showcased his skillset picking up the three wickets in three different types of deliveries: he sent one across left-hander Venkatesh Iyer to have him nick through to Dhoni; Nitish Rana was dismissed with a short-ish delivery, caught at short fine leg; and it was fitting that Bravo took his third wicket, which equalled Malinga’s record, with his specialist slower ball in the slot, inviting Sam Billings into a big shot that was caught at deep mid-wicket.
Bravo also brought out his new dancing celebration: instead of the famous ‘Champion’ dance, he now puts a finger in front of him and dances both sideways.
Speaking about the game, KKR registered a comfortable win, chasing down 132 inside 19 overs after the bowlers had done a desired job. Umesh Yadav was Man of the Match for his terrific new ball spell in which he dismissed both CSK openers, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway. Chakravarthy and Narine kept things tight before Dhoni unleashed his shots in the final three overs to take CSK to 131, which, though, didn’t prove enough for Bravo and co. to defenc.
Most Wickets in The History of IPL:
DJ Bravo: 170* wickets
Lasith Malinga: 170 wickets
Amit Mishra: 166 wickets
Piyush Chawla: 157 wickets
Harbhajan Singh: 150 wickets
