Ravi Rampaul believes http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 as favourites to win first Test against Pakistan: Cricket News
West Indian fast bowler, Ravi Rampaul, who caused great strife to Pakistan's batting with a searing opening spell in the fourth innings of the first Test believes that his team can take the remaining seven wickets to pull off a win in the
first Test of the two-match series, which is taking place at the Providence in Guyana.
Pakistan was reeling at 2/3 at the start of their chase of 219 runs for a win. Rampaul accounted for the first two wickets as in the same over he dismissed http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Carlton-Baugh-c49264; a
delivery which moved late off the seam to catch the right-handed batsman off guard.
Rampaul did the damage in the second over of the innings. He could have taken a third wicket, but a catch was dropped in the slip cordon by Darren Bravo off http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Asad-Shafiq-c46208.
On the other end Kemar Roach sent http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 with a sharp in-coming delivery that wrapped the right-handed opener on the pads.
At this stage Pakistan looked down and out for the count, however an unbeaten defiant stand of 78 runs for the fourth wicket between Asad and Captain Misbah Ul Haq took the visitors to 80/3 at the end of an enthralling day’s play.
The visitors need another 139 runs and have five wickets in the kitty. However, Rampaul believes that his team is merely a wicket away from triggering a collapse on the Providence minefield, which has made batting an extremely tough task
for batsmen from both teams.
"We started really well and with the assistance the bowlers are getting from the pitch we believe we can win this match," "The ball swung at the start of the innings and I was able to hit my areas. We will come back in the morning [on Sunday]
and run in hard at the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 batsmen again."
Rampaul was in good form with the ball in the One Day International (ODI) series also he caused strife to the Pakistani batsmen with his swing and sharp pace. He also succeeded in extracting bounce from a length.
In all, Rampaul picked up eight wickets and played a pivotal role in the wins in the last two games at Barbados and Guyana.
The much improved pacer stated after his outstanding spell that his performance is to be attributed to better fitness levels and advise from the coach of the team, Ottis Gibson, who himself was a fast bowler.
"Last year I had an injury in the Test match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757. After that I spoke to the coach [Gibson] and he offered me some great advice. He told me I needed to improve my fitness levels and he also told me I could bowl a lot faster
and be a major asset to the team”.
The strappy youngster does not look fit at first glance, he has a bulky frame however on a closer look he appears muscular and it is the strength in his back and legs besides the shoulders that has helped bowl at a good pace consistently.
It is a credit to him that he has caused trouble to the batsmen on a largely benign wicket. Rampaul has already put a big effort and if he can stick to his guns and provide early breakthroughs on the penultimate day he can guide his team
to a morale-boosting win in the longest format of the game.
The West Indians have not won a Test for the best part of 18 months and the fourth day would provide them their best chance of late.
Tags: