Derbyshire ropes in Ravi Rampaul for T20 Blast and Royal London Cup

Ravi Rampaul has been resigned by Derbyshire for the final three group games in this year’s Vitality T20 Blast and also the Royal London Cup. Rampaul who was the leading wicket-taker in the 2019 edition of the T20 Blast has spent the 2018 and 2019 seasons at Derbyshire as Kolpak registration players. However, he didn’t return last summer for the T20 Blast owing to the strict covid restrictions in place.

Rampaul has been going through a purple patch in the recent past and was the leading wicket-taker in the Regional Super50 competition. He also plied his trade for the Deccan Gladiators in the Abu Dhabi T10 League. He was snapped up by the Trinbago Knight Riders and will play for them in the upcoming edition of the tournament. This is the first time, the fast bowler has received a CPL contract since 2017.

Speaking on his association with Derbyshire, Rampaul said, "I loved my first spell with Derbyshire and I'm looking forward to getting started again in familiar surroundings. I know most of the players still, and there's a few new faces who are really exciting young players. If I can help them along in training and in games, I will do that, and hopefully we can get on a roll and challenge for the knockouts."

Derbyshire director Dave Houghton said that Rampaul will add variety to the squad having had great success with the county in earlier editions. He said that having someone of Rampaul’s abilities will be highly beneficial for Debyshire.

"I've always felt that we had some unfinished business. Ravi had such a good season in 2019 - he was club player of the year - but we lost him for a year due to the pandemic. Our bowlers have come on leaps and bounds this year, but to have someone of Ravi's ability and class opening and closing the innings for us, which is something we've missed this season, is going to be fantastic, “Houghton said.

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Sri Lanka batting coach Grant Flower tests positive for COVID-19 ahead of SL-IND series

In what could potentially jeopardise the India-Sri Lanka limited over series, Sri Lanka batting coach Grant Flower has tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday just days before the start of the ODI series against India. The whole squad returned from England three days back and it will be interesting to see how things pan out in the coming days. Flower is currently the only active member of the squad testing positive for the virus and Sri Lanka’s medical staff is hopeful of the fact that it won’t impact the white-ball series against India. It is believed that Flower hasn’t been in close contact with the rest of the squad members in the last few days. The Sri Lankan players are currently isolating themselves in separate rooms but had travelled together from England. If the result is not a false positive, the Sri Lankan medical staff feels that Flower contracted the virus in England. "We have to find out how Flower got infected, and also which variant of the virus he has been infected with," a member of Sri Lanka's medical was quoted as saying by the ESPNcricinfo. As per the original plan, the team was supposed to come out of isolation on Friday but that has been put to hold until the next round of RT-PCR test results.

Mahmudullah, Taskin create history, thread together second-highest ninth-wicket partnership in Tests

It was a historic day for Bangladesh in Test cricket as Mahmudullah Riyad and Taskin Ahmed threaded together with a 191 run partnership, the second-highest in the history of the longest format for the ninth wicket. They remained only short by five runs from breaking the highest partnership record for the ninth wicket, created by South Africa's Mark Boucher and PL Symcox against Pakistan in 1998. This was also the highest ninth-wicket partnership for Bangladesh and overall the ninth highest in Tests for the Tigers. Taskin joined Mahmudullah in the middle when the score was 270-7 and Bangladesh needed someone to hang on with the experienced Mahmudullah to complete his fifty when he was batting in his forties Not only did Taskin stood there to help the 35 year old complete his fifty, but went on to score his maiden fifty as well Mahmudullah on his part scored his fifth Test match century and reached to his best score in Test matches, remaining unbeaten on 150. Taskin, who was dropped on 32 and had a verbal spat with Blessing Muzarabani was removed by Milton Shumba on 75 from 134 Intotal, Bangladesh scored 468 in the first innings of the only Test going on at Harare Sports Club in Harare. In response, the hosts have had a cautious start themselves, scoring 57 without any loss in the first 26 overs.

Dinesh Karthik wants to break the post-retirement commentary stereotype

Wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik who recently made his commentary debut during the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final between New Zealand and India wants to change the perception of commentary being a post-retirement option. Karthik who will also commentate during the five-match Test series between hosts England and India has become a crowd favourite and barring his sexist tweet during the ODI series between England and Sri Lanka, he is having a wonderful time at the commentary box. Karthik said that while playing cricket is much difficult than talking on the microphone, he agreed that commentary has its own set of challenges. The opportunity to rub shoulders with the likes of Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain is also helping him honing his commentary skills. "Actually, I was the only debutant of that final," Karthik said. After completing his commentary duties in the England-India Test series, Karthik will fly to UAE to join the Kolkata Knight Riders for the remainder of the 14th season of the IPL. He is expected to lead the side in the absence of regular skipper Eoin Morgan. Speaking on his commentary stint Karthik said, "I did that and it went pretty well. That is when I got the opportunity to do commentary and I decided to go for it. The mindset was just to speak about whatever little I know about the game.” "There are a lot of other sports like basketball and football where current players come on air when they are not playing." "Even now during the Sri Lanka-England T20s, James Anderson was doing it for BBC in the next room. So it is a normal thing, it is only in India I think it is considered like that (post-retirement option). I obviously want to break that stereotype to an extent and I am happy to do this when I am not playing,” Karthik concluded.

This series is very important to me: Yuzvendra Chahal on playing senior spinner role

Indian leggie Yuzvendra Chahal would be playing ODI cricket after eight months and he is excited to be back in the longer white-ball format. The Haryana born said that he has been asked by coach Rahul Dravid to play as the senior spinner in the team and guide the rest of the guys along with him. "You can't perform in every match. I will try my level best. This series is very important to me," said Chahal. "I keep having conversations with the bowling coach. My main focus at the moment is just this series - there's been lesser cricket over the last year, but that's not in our hands. Whatever series happens, we want to perform," added the 30-year-old. Talking about his future plans and how he is focussing series by series, Chahal said, "After this series, my focus will be on the IPL, and only then the [T20] World Cup. Right now, I'm focusing on this tour only." The rules of the ODI have become demanding for the spinners over the years and with only four players allowed outside the 30-yard circle in overs 11-40, the runs flow easily. For Chahal who has mainly been bowling with five players outside the circle in the T20s, it would be challenging. However, the RCB player begs to differ saying, "I've played for five years, 50-plus matches, so I'm used to all this. This is not an excuse or something. Now, when I bowl, I just focus on how to get batters out. That's it." Asked about what's new in-store from the always chirpy and happy go lucky player on the field, Chahal said, "I have a couple of variations and I'm focusing on that only, not using other deliveries. You will see a more confident Yuzi in this series. I'm just working on my angles and in general trying to bowl more." It would be interesting to see who compliments Chahal in the team, especially with Kuldeep Yadav and Krishnappa Gowtham offering completely different things with the ball. India plays its first game on the tour on July 13 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.