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.