Groin injury forces Dwayne Bravo into early retirement

107 matches into his Caribbean Premier League (CPL) journey, Dwayne Bravo’s career finally came to an end after a groin injury forced him into an early retirement. The all-rounder hurt himself while attempting a catch of Faf du Plessis in the seventh over of the his team's clash against St Lucia Kings.

Bravo didn’t return to the field for the rest of the innings, which forced Kieron Pollard into bowling four overs of himself. However, the Trinidad legend did return to the field during the second innings, where he batted at No.11 before retiring hurt, with pain evident on his face. 

"When he pulled up [injured], it looked pretty serious. Obviously, him coming to bat [at No.11] is not just to win the game, but to know the extent of the injury,” Pollard said in the post-match presentation.  

“We're not sure if this is going to be the end for him but overall from the team perspective, we just want to tell him thank you very much for all that he has done for cricket, for Trinidad & Tobago for the wider world. He's been a charismatic person and has been inspiring throughout and just want to tell him thank you. He's not in a good space right now but obviously he's given everything that he has to cricket and cricket has rewarded him as well."

With both Bravo and Sunil Narine unavailable, the onus was on the all-round duo of Pollard and Andre Russell to take up bowling responsibilities. 

"I had to take the mantle with DJ [Bravo] going down and Russell not 100% fit. Narine is not playing because he's not fit through injury. Obviously, I had to manage it and it's good that you're in a position where you have qualified [for the playoffs],” Pollard said. 

“Yes, you wanna finish in the top two and you end up in the situation where you look around who can do the job for you going into the back end of the tournament. I haven't been bowling much, but it was a good sort of shift for me today. But having said that from the bowling perspective looking at the last couple of games, we have some work to do."

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