Thaindian News

Chittagong, Oct 17 (IANS/CMC) West Indies fast bowler Ravi Rampaul had much to celebrate over the weekend.

It started Friday with news that he had been voted Trinidad & Tobago’s International Player-of-the-Year and got better when he collected two wickets for 27 runs from 10 overs to help West Indies complete an eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh to seal a rare One-day International series victory on his 27th birthday.

“It was a great feeling to get a series win on my birthday and it feels great to do so well with the ball,” said Rampaul.

“Everybody is happy with the way we are playing and the fact that we are executing our plans and getting success as individuals and as a team,” he said.

“I knew it was my special day, so I wanted to celebrate with a special performance for the team. I knew it wouldn’t just happen like that, so I decided I had to go and bowl my heart out,” he added.

“I planned where I would bowl and how I would attack them,” he said. “The aim was to get it back-of-a-length, and use the short ball as a surprise. As a team, we knew they would come hard at us at the start of the innings, so as a bowling group, we were ready.”

Rampaul bowled steadily throughout the innings, as West Indies dismissed Bangladesh for 220 in 48.5 overs before half-centuries from Marlon Samuels and Lendl Simmons marched them to their target.

“When they won the toss and batted first I said ‘yes’; I knew right there and then that I would get the chance to run in hard with the new ball,” he said. “I started well with an early wicket and I made sure I kept things tight as well, and then Roach grabbed two so we had them pushed back.”

He said: “The job was then to maintain the pressure and build blocks of dot balls. To their credit, they never gave up. They kept fighting and tried to stay in the game,” he said.

Rampaul relished the occasion of a rare victory for West Indies on the road and said the team was angling for more success in the remaining matches against the Bengal Tigers.

“As a team, we are very happy to come away from home and win,” he said. “In the two matches, we got two comprehensive wins and, with one match to go, we will look to take that as well and get a clean sweep in the series. After this, we will switch focus to the two Test matches, as we look to win those as well,” he said.

The third One-day International is Tuesday at the Chowdhury Stadium here.

–IANS/CMC
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