Rampaul using CLT20 to prepare for India ODIs

Cricket365
September 15, 2014

West Indies fast bowler Ravi Rampaul is looking to use his time with the Barbados Tridents at the Champions League T20 to prepare for the Windies' series against India next month.

The Windies will face India in a five-match ODI series as teams ramp up their preparations for the World Cup next year, and Rampaul feels he'll be getting a head start by playing for the Tridents in India.

Rampaul said: "It would be good for me because I would like to hit the ground running. Hopefully, I can get in some good performances in the tournament and get my confidence up ahead of that series.

"I have been working hard and I think this is my best phase in my T20 career. This is because I have become a far better death bowler than I was ever before.

"I worked hard during the CPL to sharpen up on fitness front and wickets I took is a testimony to that. Hopefully in the CLT20, I can be among the wickets again."

The Tridents are without Shoaib Malik, who was their best batsman in the CPL, and are also missing Kieron Pollard, who opted to play for Mumbai, and Dwayne Smith for Chennai, but Rampaul insisted this was not an issue.

He said: "We have a lot of talent in our team. We don't depend on one player. We have an entire team and once they perform together, we should come out victorious.

"Like all teams, we have a chance. We've lost three of our top players (Pollard, Malik, Dwayne Smith) but we have a lot of talent in our team and the team spirit is good.

"Hopefully, we can play as hard as we can but like each team, we have a good chance at winning."