Mumbai, May 14 (IANS) Kolkata Knight Riders mentor Dwayne Bravo along some other West Indies players including Romerio Shepherd is back in India ahead of the restart of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which will resume with a match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on May 17.

Bravo, the West Indies star, spent many years in India as a star player for Chennai Super Kings, making vital contributions with his fine medium pace bowling and lower-order power-hitting. After retiring as a player, he maintained his connection with IPL first as a bowling coach at CSK before joining KKR as a mentor.

On Wednesday, he confirmed his return to India for the remaining part of the IPL with a video on his Instagram handle.

In the video, 9]Bravo is shown sitting in an electric vehicle in an airport and is audible saying “We are back”, as he is asked how he is (in Hindi). KKR’s overseas stars Andre Russell and Sunil Narine were also seen on Bravo’s Instagram story.

Bravo had left India along with other foreign players and support staff after the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 was suspended on May 9 because of a violent conflict between India and Pakistan. India had targetted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan as part of Operation Sindoor, in retaliation for the attack on innocent tourists by terrorists in Pahalgam, which resulted in the loss of 26 lives — 25 Indian and one Nepali.

In response to Operation Sindoor, Pakistan attacked with missiles and drones some Indian cities along the northern and western border. All the airports in the northern and western parts of the country that were within the range of the Pakistan attack were closed.

But with the BCCI announcing the restart of the IPL 2025 after the two countries agreed to a ceasefire, the franchises have sent urgent messages to the foreign players and support staff to return to India for the remaining matches in the IPL>

KKR have two matches to play in the league phase. After playing with RCB on May 17, they will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on May 26.

Though Bravo is back in India while some like Rashid Khan have not left the country, some players from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa are reluctant to return to India as they still have concerns about their safety.

Australia’s Jack Fraser-McGurk has already refused to rejoin the IPL 2025, and his franchise, Delhi Capitals, have already picked Mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh as a replacement.

–IANS

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