File photo of Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa.
Australian spinner Adam Zampa has admitted that he was left gutted when he was not picked by any franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction.
"I missed out at the IPL auction unfortunately. I'm a little bit flat about that to be honest. 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 at a point where I just want to be playing the best cricket possible," Zampa told the Unplayable Podcast.
Zampa and Kane Richardson who were playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) last season decided to leave IPL midway during the India phase after COVID-19 cases started rising in India and there were doubts regarding whether Australia will allow any travellers or not.
"International cricket is that and then the next thing after that is the IPL. 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.
"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," he added.
Zampa has had a memorable 12 months and he also went on to take 13 wickets in Australia's T20 World Cup-winning campaign.
The spinner is currently a part of the Australian squad that is locking horns against Sri Lanka in the ongoing five-match T20I series.
(Reported by ANI)
