Darren Bravo, who scored his maiden ODI century in the first ODI, played yet another match-winning innings in the third that earned him the man-of-the-series award. Bravo came into the crease at the fall of Ramnaresh Sarwan in the 12th over and stayed unbeaten on 72 as West Indies won by five wickets.
“Today was the ideal opportunity for me and I went out there with that one goal in mind,” Bravo said. “I just wanted to bat to the end and I knew if I was there at the end we would win the match and win the series 3-0.”
Bravo overcame his indifferent form during the limited-overs series in Australia with an unbeaten 72-ball century in the first match of the series. Although he failed in the second, his innings in the third match took him to the second position the run charts for the series.
“In the first match I played really well and got my first hundred. In the second match Sarwan did the job by batting through to the end and he got a great hundred. Today we lost a few quick wickets and key wickets as well, so it was a matter of me buckling down and looking to take it all the way to the finish.”
Although, West Indies took the series 3-0, Bravo said the wins didn’t come easy as Zimbabwe “never sat back and surrendered – so we had to make sure we played well and played smart against them.” In the absence of Chris Gayle, Bravo, who has been in the ODI set up since 2009, had extra responsibility of steering the innings in these matches. He said he would look to repeat the success he has had with the new approach in the future.
“After coming back from Australia, where we didn’t do very well, it was just a matter of me believing in myself and looking to make the most of the opportunities,” he said. “I went out and backed myself and looked to execute the game plan. It was a matter of understanding the situation and doing what was required for the team.
