The extravagant Indian Premier League's (IPL) auction 2022 came with lots of surprises. While some young players became overnight millionaires, unexpectedly few big names went unsold which came as shock for everyone. Australia's Adam Zampa was among such names who couldn't lure the IPL franchise for the upcoming edition, however, he was slotted in at the base price of Rs 2 crore but no franchise was interested in availing his services.
The 29-year-old Zampa has now opened up on his IPL snub. The leg-spinner felt a little gutted and said it was really difficult for an overseas spinner to process this as the franchisees considered pace bowlers over us.
“It’s very hard as an overseas spinner, particularly if you’re just a specialist spinner who’s not so much of a mystery spinner. The mega-auction, the way it panned out, they spent a lot of money on fast bowlers, a lot of money on allrounders, and even batsmen don’t get great money. They get okay money,” said Zampa.
Zampa also said that once the franchises had spent money on the pacers, they spent money on procuring local spinners. Adding that there will be more opportunities coming up for him next year, Zampa concluded by stating that he will be a valuable addition to any IPL franchise based on how he is bowling at present.
“And then once all that money gets spent, they go, ‘Okay, we need some spinners now,’ and usually they feel like the local guys can do an okay job anyway. I think there’ll be opportunities maybe next year with the IPL though. I think I’d be a valuable addition to any of those squads particularly with the way that I’m bowling at the moment,” added Zampa.
Zampa has played 14 matches in the IPL and has scalped 21 wickets at an average of 17.62 in the Indian T20 league.
Some of his teammates like Aaron Finch and Steven Smith too did not invite any bids during the two-day event.
Like Zampa, other leading white-ball spinners like Adil Rashid, Imran Tahir, Tabraiz Shamsi and Mujeeb ur Rahman too did not attract any bids.
"I missed out at the IPL auction, unfortunately. I'm a little bit flat about that, to be honest," Zampa said.
"I thought if there was ever a year that I was going to get the opportunity over there again, it would have been this year. Just with the way that I'm bowling and, from a personal point of view, I just feel like my game's at a point where I just want to be playing the best cricket possible.
"International cricket is that and then the next thing after that is the IPL," Zampa further added.
