KOLKATA, India (CMC) – All-rounder Carlos Brathwaite says his new-found Twenty20 fame has not thwarted his love for Test cricket and he hopes to fashion a successful career across all three formats of the game.
The 27-year-old shot to international prominence last Sunday when he belted consecutive sixes off the first four deliveries of the final over of the men’s Twenty20 World Cup, to fire West Indies to a dramatic win over England.
And yesterday, even as he prepared to play his first game of the Indian Premier League season for Delhi Daredevils here, Brathwaite said the longest format still held plenty appeal for him.
“Personally I do love Test cricket and I enjoy watching the boring parts of Test cricket – a batsman batting out long periods of time and then overcoming that to score a hundred. I take each facet of the game in each format at its best,” the Barbadian said.
“T20 … it is a good spectator sport as well, but then there is Test cricket, where you get to test yourself against the values of the format – like facing a barrage of bouncers and getting past that, taking a few knocks and playing the swinging ball and seeing though a good spell to capitalise and get a hundred.
“The better cricketers in the world are able to adapt from T20 to 50 overs to Test cricket and it is a challenge that I set myself – to be able to play all three formats and be successful in all three.”
Brathwaite has also had a successful introduction to Test cricket. He made his debut against Australia in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne and scored a patient 59 in the first innings during a two-hour knock..
In the following Test in Sydney, he upped the tempo to blast a quickfire 69 from 71 balls, with seven fours and four sixes.
Brathwaite said working with Delhi Daredevils mentor, Test legend Rahul Dravid, would allow him the opportunity to further improve his game – especially in the area of playing spin.
“I find myself privileged enough to be working along with someone I have idolised all my career and that is Rahul Dravid,” said Brathwaite.
“We had a couple of chats and it is good to hear from him as a person and as a player on the areas that I would look to improve on in terms of playing spin.
“I hope that at the end of six weeks I can go back to the West Indies with better understanding of how to play spin bowling, how to rotate it, how to score off it and how to take that knowledge from the IPL back to the West Indies.”
Catch Brathwaite offering his personal thoughts on that dramatic final over against England and much more in a fascinating exclusive interview, which is available online at http://antiguaobserver.com/the-slog-sweep-carlos-brathwaite-special/