Dwayne Bravo is not thinking of becoming a West Indies head coach.
But the former West Indies star all-rounder is giving his support to the incumbent, former team-mate Daren Sammy.
Bravo was asked about coaching the Windies following the Trinbago Knight Riders’ six-wicket victory over the Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Saturday night.
The win was TKR’s fifth in six matches and kept them at the top of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League standings.
Bravo is in his first season as coach of the Trinidad franchise, and he was quick to shut down talk of coaching the Caribbean side.
“The West Indies team has a coach and we have to respect that. I give (Daren) Sammy my support,” he told the media.
“I’m here to help in any way possible but I don’t see myself as head coach of West Indies, let’s make that very clear.”
Bravo said further: “I have a three-year contract with the Knight Riders franchise all around the world and my focus is that, but I will always have a helping hand to give Sammy and the rest of the team.”
Asked about his transition from player to coach, Bravo said: “For me, it’s not to coach those guys; they are so talented, they are so experienced. For me, it’s just to make sure the environment is solid and healthy and give them the platform to go and express themselves; be honest with them when they do wrong; let them know they do wrong and also analyse and reflect.”
The former title-winning TKR skipper added: There was a reason why I decided to pick an experienced team—(Colin) Munro coming back, Alex Hales, Mohammad Amir. My brother only played one game but to have him on the bench is something comforting. Obviously Polly and Pooran and Sunil, they are world class players, so just make sure to encourage them and keep them hungry.”
Bravo said that his history with his senior players was a plus.
“I’ve played most of my cricket with these guys. We have a very similar way of thinking and we analyse the game, so it’s always good to bounce ideas off of each other and allow Nicholas Pooran to be the leader and make his own decisions and try not to complicate things too much and he’s doing a fantastic job.”
And with a lead position in the CPL established, Bravo said: “We feel we in a good space at the moment but the tournament is far from over and we just want to keep winning every game.”