Rickelton ready to ramp it up

RYAN Rickelton endured a nightmare white-ball tour of India last month.

- ZAAHIER ADAMS.

The Proteas opener was dismissed without scoring in both the Ranchi and Visakhapatnam ODIs.

Albeit in a different format, it was these returns that led to Rickelton being excluded from the Proteas’ original T20 World Cup squad set to depart for India next week.

But much has happened since. Rickelton has once again piled on the runs for his beloved MI Cape Town in the Betway SA20, finishing as the leading run-scorer in the competition, which prompted a national social media outcry over his omission.

And as fate would have it - Tony de Zorzi not recovering from the hamstring strain he suffered in the second ODI which ironically led to Rickelton playing in the series-decider - the southpaw is now back in the T20 World Cup squad and preparing to face the West Indies in a three-match series, starting in Paarl on Tuesday.

It's been a rollercoaster ride of emotions, but having been through a fair bit of upheaval in his career already, most notably when left at home ahead of the tour to Australia in 2022 due to ankle injury which he believed he had fully recovered from, the 29-year-old has taken it all in his stride.