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Rampaul signs two-year deal with Surrey
London : Out-of-favour West Indies fast bowler Ravi Rampaul will turn out for Surrey in the English County Championship starting next month, after signing a two-year deal with the London-based cricket club.
The 31-year-old Trinidadian will reinforce Surrey’s fast bowling stocks, especially after frontline seamer Jade Dernbach recently suffered an injury setback in his quest to overcome a stress fracture of the back, reports CMC.
He joins 20-year-old Tom Curran whose 76 wickets last season made him the joint highest wicket-taker as Surrey captured the Division Two title.
Former England captain Alec Stewart, Surrey’s Director of Cricket, said Rampaul would be a boon to the squad.
“Ravi will add experience to our seam bowling attack and we look forward to him joining the squad,” Stewart said in a statement on Saturday.
Right-armer Rampaul has taken 49 wickets from 18 Tests and 117 wickets from 92 One-Day Internationals with an economy rate of five runs per over.
He last represented the West Indies on the Caribbean side’s limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka last November but has not played a Test in four years nor a first-class game in three years.
Rampaul is expected to arrive at Surrey this weekend.
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.