Dwayne Bravo: All is well with Australia

West Indies cricketers Dwayne Bravo, (L), Chris Gayle (C) and captain Darren Samy celebrate victory over Australia during the ICC World Twenty20 tournament at The Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on March 28, 2014.

West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has eased the tensions between his team and the Australian side claiming that as “professional cricketers” they know how to get along despite differences in opinion. Australian fast bowler James Faulkner started it all when he said that he doesn’t “particularly like” the West Indian players ahead of their World Cup T20 encounter, which sparked off animated celebrations from the West Indies following their victory against Australia.

Bravo has cooled off the situation by saying, “We are all professional cricketers. They want to win and they will do whatever it takes to try and get a win. Sometimes, we use it for motivation and some other teams retaliate. We are not a side that retaliates. We try and be expressive on the cricket field. The two teams share the same hotel in Dhaka, and chat with members of the rival camp had been amicable.”

Australia looked well on their way to victory after setting a target of 179 and getting rid of the dangerous looking Chris Gayle for a 35-ball 53, but a counter-attacking 49-run 5th wicket partnership between Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo in just 19 balls took the game away from the Kangaroos. Sammy smashed Faulkner out of the park twice in the last over to seal the fate of the match.

He added: “We see each other in the lobby. Obviously that happened in the field. Today morning, I was having a chat with Haddin, Finch and Warner about the Big Bash League. Speaking for myself, we are all good friends off the cricket field. I play a lot with them in the Big Bash. That game was really heated. Look at the India-West Indies games, the relationship is like one love and it’s like one country playing. Thanks to the IPL, it allows that.”