Three years after calling time on his Indian Premier League (IPL) career, Dwayne Bravo’s influence on the tournament remains impossible to ignore. A modern-day IPL great, Bravo finished as one of the greatest all-rounders the league has seen and still stands as the most successful pacer in CSK’s history with 154 wickets across 10 seasons. Even after retirement, his association with Chennai Super Kings continued in a coaching role before he eventually moved on last year, ending a golden chapter.

Yet, while professional paths have shifted, Bravo’s personal relationship with MS Dhoni has barely changed.

Built on instinctive understanding and mutual respect, their bond goes well beyond captain and player. Bravo often mentions Dhoni as “brother from another mother," a relationship forged through not long conversations, but through trust.

One such moment came during CSK’s much-anticipated 2018 return, following their two-year suspension. Fielding at long on, Bravo put in a full-length dive to stop the ball, a move that seemed routine given his athletic reputation. However, what followed left him genuinely surprised.

“Then in 2018, when we came back after the ban, I dived for a ball while fielding at long-on.

Obviously, I’m older than 34. He called me into the ring, and after the over, as he walked past, he said to me, ‘Don’t ever dive on my cricket field again. Your four overs are more important than saving four runs.’ When he said that, I was like, Wow,'” Bravo revealed on the ‘Beard Before Wicket’ podcast.

“After that, I started fielding in the circle. That’s the kind of thing he does. He knows what you’re good at, and he wants you for that reason. He doesn’t want you to try to do anything or be anybody else.

This is what I want from you, this is your job, and I’m happy with this,” Bravo added.

The trust, however, between them developed much earlier. Bravo recalled his first on-field interaction with Dhoni, one that instantly set the tone for their partnership.

“In my first over, he asked me about my field. I told him what I wanted, and he was like, ‘Oh no, maybe…’ I said, ‘No, no, it’s okay, this is what I want.’ I think after that moment, he never told me anything about field placement again,” Bravo recalled.

"I felt that at that moment he trusted me, that this guy knows what he’s doing and knows what he’s about.

From then on, we called each other brother from a different mother. He just allowed me to be me.”