Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa who won the 'Player of the match' award for bagging two wickets against England said that pulling out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 was the best thing he could do leading into the T20 World Cup 2024. Zampa who was with Rajasthan Royals (RR) was unlikely to be a regular part of playing XI and pulled out of the season citing need to spend time with family and nurse the injuries.
The 32-year-old turned out to be Mitchell Marsh’s ace against England. He was introduced into the attack in the eighth over and delivered with Phil Salt's wicket. The slider hit the stumps as Salt attempted the cut shot and missed. In his second over, he was hit for a six by Jos Buttler. On the next ball, he attempted a reverse sweep but got caught by Pat Cummins at backward point.
"Yeah, obviously made that decision a little while ago to pull out of the IPL and I thought it was the best thing for me moving forward into this World Cup," said Zampa at the post-match press conference.
"I was tired, I had some niggles and I'm a family man as well, so trying to put them first over work sometimes is pretty important.
"I actually am a bit of a slow starter and I put in a little bit of extra work. My body feels great and I just did that bit of extra work. Maybe a bit more bowling than I usually would before a tournament like this. And then the practice games and everything just feels nice at the moment," he added.
Buttler, Salt’s IPL numbers
Buttler scored 359 runs from 11 games in the IPL 2024 including two centuries. He left before RR towards the end of the league stage. Salt missed the playoffs as well. He scored 435 runs from 12 games including four fifties. KKR went on to win the title after a decade.
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Zampa’s form
Zampa has bagged four wickets in the tournament already. Against a spirited Oman, he conceded 24 runs and bagged a couple of wickets as well. In the warm-up games against West Indies, he was taken to the cleaners conceding 62 runs. In the other warm-up game against Namibia, he claimed three wickets.
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