FORMER West Indies spinner and two-time International Cricket Council (ICC) men's Twenty/20 World Cup winner Samuel Badree says Afghanistan's appointment of his former teammate Dwayne Bravo is a strategic move and he believes the ex-Windies captain will add great value to the Asian team.
On Tuesday, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) confirmed Bravo's appointment as a bowling consultant for the June 1-29 T20 World Cup which is being co-hosted by the West Indies and the US.
"The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announces the appointment of former West Indian great and T20 World Cup winner Dwayne Bravo as the bowling consultant of the Afghanistan national team for the T20 World Cup 2024," a release from the ACB said.
"Bravo is set to join the team during the preparation camp ahead of the marquee event in the Caribbean."
The Afghans are in St Kitts and Nevis for a ten-day long training camp in the buildup to the World Cup.
Bravo confirmed his new role via Instagram.
"Thank you (to the Afghanistan Cricket Board) for trusting me and giving me the opportunity to work with such a very talented group of players. I look forward to this new challenge and can't wait to get started," said Bravo, who played alongside Badree in the West Indies' runs to the 2012 and 2016 T20 World Cup titles.
Led by ace leg-spinner Rashid Khan, the Afghanistanis are in group C alongside New Zealand, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Uganda and the West Indies.
Badree said Bravo's appointment, along with PNG's hiring of former West Indies coach Phil Simmons as a specialist coach ahead of the World Cup, speaks to the homework being done by the varying teams and the inside knowledge they are trying to gather. Simmons was the coach of the Windies team which lifted a second T20 World Cup crown in 2016.
Last December, reigning T20 World Cup champions England hired former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard, as an assistant coach for the upcoming World Cup. England are in group B alongside the 2021 champions Australia, as well as Namibia, Oman and Scotland.
"I think Dwayne's appointment by the Afghanistan team is quite a strategic move by them, knowing the experience Dwayne has in TT cricket. He has the most wickets in this format in the history of the game. And of course, he understands the conditions quite well," Badree told Newsday.
"I'm sure he'll be hoping from a team's perspective with his appointment that Afghanistan will qualify beyond the first round. I think it's a very good move by Afghanistan to get somebody with the expertise and experience of Dwayne Bravo in their corner."
The 40-year-old Bravo played 91 T20 matches for the Windies, with his last match coming at the 2021 T20 World Cup in a group stage match against the Aussies. Bravo, regarded as one of the pioneers of the T20 game, played 295 matches in total for the West Indies. Bravo took 363 international wickets across all formats, with 78 of those coming in the T20 format.
Bravo took 625 T20 wickets in a 19-year span with his wily medium-pace and crafty slower balls.
