Friday, March 29, 2024

Rampaul: Team spirit key

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Seasoned international seamer Ravi Rampaul says Barbados Tridents will look to draw on their great team spirit when they launch their campaign in the Champions League Twenty20 next week in India.

Rampaul said the strength of the squad was the unity which existed among their ranks and believes the Tridents stand an excellent chance.

“We’ve lost three of our top players but we have a lot of talent in our team and a lot of team spirit. So as soon as we reach India, hopefully we can take it game by game and play as hard as we can – but like each team we have a good chance,” Rampaul pointed out.

The right-armer said the Tridents planned to draw on the experience of the Trinidad and Tobago squad, who played superbly to reach the final of the 2009 CLT20, before losing to New South Wales Blues.

“A lot will depend on team spirit. The Trinidad team had a brilliant team spirit – together as one. Even if one guy doesn’t perform, you have another guy coming in to pick up the slack and it’s the same thing with the Barbados Tridents team,” said Rampaul, who was a member of that 2009 T&T squad.

The Tridents, who leave for India today, will face a tall order in Group B, coming up against the likes of Indian Premier League side, Kings XI Punjab, South African outfit Cape Cobras and Hobart Hurricanes of Australia.

They will do so without their three best players – captain Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith and Shoaib Malik – who are representing other franchises. They have been replaced by New Zealander James Franklin, Sri Lankan Dilshan Munaweera and Zimbabwe’s One-Day captain Elton Chigumbura.

Rampaul said with the three players out, all members of the team needed to step up and fill the breach left.

“You have to deliver as senior players but we have a lot of talent on our team,” he said. “We don’t depend on one guy. It’s a whole team and once the whole team perform together we should come out victorious.”

Rampaul, who was the leading bowler in the CPL campaign with 18 wickets, said he had focused a lot on improving his bowling in the T20 format.

“Since the CPL was played mostly in the day, I tried to get the ball to reverse swing a little more and that worked to my advantage.”

Barbados Tridents open their CLT20 campaign on September 20 against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali.

SQUAD: Rayad Emrit (captain), Shane Dowrich, Jeevan Mendis, Jason Holder, Ashley Nurse, Jonathan Carter, Neil McKenzie, Akeal Hosein, Ravi Rampaul, Raymon Reifer, Kyle Mayers, William Perkins, James Franklin, Elton Chigumbura, Dilshan Munaweera. (EZS/CMC)

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