Come next season the T&T Knight Riders could have a new captain rather than the man who took them to the title in 2015 Dwayne Bravo.
The Trinidad Guardian understands from reliable sources close to the team that Bravo has allegedly written to the owners of the team Red Chillies Entertainment asking to be relieved of the captaincy. The all rounder who is a much sought after player in International T20 cricket, wishes to remain in the T&T Knight Riders set up but is looking to take off the leadership band. It was not clear as to why the Santa Cruz native decided to relinquish the captaincy, but his position is likely to go to the former West Indies captain and wicketkeeper batsman Denesh Ramdin, or the former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum.
The two players played for the franchise for the first time in 2016. Previously Ramdin had skippered the Guyana Amazon Warriors and McCullum never played in the tournament before.
Under Bravo the T&T Red Steel won the title in 2015, with a victory over the Barbados Tridents at the Queen’s Park Oval. However, this year they failed at the play-off stages, as the Jamaica Tallawahs who booted them out, lifted the title.
The owners will have to make a quick decision as to who will captain the team, as negotiations for the new season expected to be in July/August next year have already started with the focus on the players draft which is expected to take place very early in the new year.
Bravo, a senior statesman among regional players was removed as captain of the West Indies ODI team in 2015 and since then his captaincy has been limited to the T&T Knight Riders franchise. Given the current situation, the owners may seriously look to make Bravo their marquee player is an effort to keep the dynamic right hander on the team.
The T&T Knight Riders is owned by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, with his man of business Venky Mysore the CEO.