India-West Indies combined T20 XI: Dwayne Bravo picks his dream team, CSK legend picked as Impact Sub

India-West Indies combined T20 XI: Dwayne Bravo picks his dream team, CSK legend picked as Impact Sub originally appeared on Cricket News.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Dwayne Bravo has picked an all-time combined India and West Indies T20 XI loaded with match-winners.
• Chris Gayle and Rohit Sharma open the batting, with Virat Kohli slotting in at number three.
• CSK legend Suresh Raina was the standout choice as the Impact Player in Bravo’s lineup.

Dwayne Bravo picks his India-West Indies dream T20I team

Few players understand T20 cricket’s biggest names better than Dwayne Bravo, a two-time World Cup winner and one of the format’s most decorated stars. The Trinidadian has now turned selector, drawing up a combined India and West Indies side made up purely of his own picks.

Bravo’s eleven leans heavily on raw firepower. Six West Indians and five Indians make the cut, with the team built to bludgeon bowling attacks from the very first ball through to a deep and brutal lower order packed with all-rounders.

The most eye-catching call came in the Impact Player slot. Bravo handed that role to Suresh Raina, his old Chennai Super Kings teammate and one of the IPL’s most beloved figures, ensuring the Indian left-hander still featured despite fierce competition for the top-order batting spots.

Bravo’s XI: Chris Gayle, Rohit Shama, Virat Kohli, Nicolas Pooran, MS Dhoni, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah. 

Impact Sub: Suresh Raina.

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Explosive top order sets the tone

The batting begins destructively. Chris Gayle and Rohit Sharma open together, pairing the most feared power hitter in the format’s history with India’s record-breaking white-ball master.

It is a combination capable of dismantling any new-ball attack and seizing control inside the powerplay overs.

At number three comes Virat Kohli, the anchor tasked with holding the innings together amid the chaos around him.

Nicholas Pooran follows at four, adding another explosive left-handed option who can switch from rebuild to assault in a matter of deliveries.

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Finishers stacked through the middle

From there, the lineup turns into a relentless finishing machine. MS Dhoni slots in at five to marshal the chase and apply his trademark calm, while Kieron Pollard at six brings the kind of brute hitting that can flip a game in a single over.

The destruction continues with Andre Russell at seven and Bravo himself at eight, two explosive all-rounders who offer late-order muscle and several crucial overs with the ball. It leaves the side with batting depth that stretches almost to the very end of the order.

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Spin and pace complete it

The bowling unit blends mystery and precision in equal measure. Sunil Narine offers control and wickets through the middle overs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar brings new-ball swing and clever death-overs craft, and Jasprit Bumrah completes the attack as arguably the finest T20 fast bowler of his generation.

Waiting in the wings is Raina, a fearless middle-order batter and electric fielder who built his legend at Chennai under the watchful eyes of Dhoni and Bravo.

His selection as Impact Player hands Bravo a ready-made game-changer to unleash whenever the contest demands a spark.

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