Adam Zampa is looking for redemption in India after World Cup nightmare
A World Cup campaign that promised so much for Adam Zampa went horribly wrong when he was ripped apart by Indian star Shikhar Dhawan. The spinner tells how his tournament unravelled.
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Adam Zampa’s stale field setting against Shikhar Dhawan rocked a World Cup campaign that he never recovered from as the leg-spinner looks to make amends in Mumbai on Tuesday night.
Zampa’s 11 wickets in Australia’s 3-2 series win in India last year rose expectations that he would help deliver a sixth trophy, but the free spirited cricketer was dropped after Dhawan dismantled him.
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The Indian opener blasted 24 runs from 14 deliveries off Zampa (strike-rate of 171.4) at The Oval in London, easily rotating strike as he faced just one dot ball.
“I didn’t start well against India. I bowled a really bad ball first ball,” Zampa, 27, told the Herald Sun.
“I bowled to India the way I would’ve bowled to them in India, after having success to them.
“I set fields to Shikhar the way that I did in India, with shots that were going to be tougher to play in India. But they were easy to play at The Oval.
“He got off strike better, which was harder to do in India. So I would’ve changed a few things up, but who knows if that would’ve even made a difference? Leg-spin didn’t play a huge role.”
Zampa prepared brilliantly for the World Cup and it was widely expected that, in a hot English summer and on wickets expected to turn, countries would spin to win.
Zampa also expected to team with Nathan Lyon however Australia never played dual spinners while Marcus Stoinis’s two-game injury also forced a restructure.
“I was really frustrated with not being selected. I just envisaged a really successful tournament and it didn’t pan that out that way,” Zampa said.
“I didn’t bowl as well I would’ve liked. It was a disappointing.”
Zampa lamented how his 1-68 against Bangladesh easily could’ve been closer to 2-50 while he didn’t close out his overs against West Indies (1-58) as well as he should’ve.
When England took down fellow wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (0-88) and Kuldeep Yadav (1-72) late in the World Cup, Zampa suspected his World Cup was over.
But while Australia axed seven players after the World Cup, including semi-final spinner Nathan Lyon, Zampa remains the frontline tweaker.
The proud vegan has 3-116 (91 balls) against skipper Virat Kohli, while India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar – who dismissed Aaron Finch in all three ODIs in Australia last year – is absent with a groin injury.
INDIA VS AUSTRALIA
Tuesday night, 7pm AEDT
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Weather: 27C and partly cloudy
SAM LANDSBERGER’S PREDICTED XI
AUSTRALIA
David Warner
Aaron Finch (c)
Steve Smith
Marnus Labuschagne
Ashton Turner
Alex Carey (wk)
Aston Agar
Pat Cummins
Mitchell Starc
Adam Zampa
Josh Hazlewood
INDIA
Rohit Sharma
Shikhar Dhawan
Virat Kohli (c)
Shreyas Iyer
Rishabh Pant (wk)
Kedar Jadhav
Ravi Jadeja
Shardul Thakur
Mohammed Shami
Kuldeep Yadav
Jasprit Bumrah
Originally published as Adam Zampa is looking for redemption in India after World Cup nightmare