Pace has been the buzzword this World Cup 2023 when it comes to bowlers, but Mumbai is all set to witness the clashes of spinners at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. From Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman to Adam Zampa – the best tweakers of the game will be in the spotlight in the city of dreams.
Afghanistan, arguably, have one of the strongest spin attacks in the world (after India, of course) but Australia have the best spinner of this World Cup in the squad. Zampa sits second behind Sri Lanka’s Dilshan Madushanka in the list of highest wicket-takers in the tournament. Given Sri Lanka are out of the World Cup and Australia will be in the knockouts, it is quite certain that Zampa will overtake Madushanka and will be a strong contender for the Golden Ball. But, is it just about taking wickets for Zampa? Well, no! After the game against England in Ahmedabad, he has proven that he has got a lot more than just the wickets.
Follow all the action from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 including the World Cup schedule, World Cup 2023 results, and ICC Cricket World Cup points table. Players are vying to top the World Cup 2023 Most Runs and World Cup 2023 Most Wickets charts.
Finest Spinner vs Finest Team of Spinners
From October 8, Australia’s first encounter in the ongoing World Cup to November 4, Australia’s last game against England, a lot has changed for Zampa. In Australia’s opening fixture against India, Zampa was the most expensive bowler – whacked across the park for 53 runs in 8 overs. A month back, he looked underconfident, unfocused and perhaps impatient.
He now looks more dedicated and assured about his line, length and obviously googlies. Against England, what could have been a difficult day for a leg spinner in Ahmedabad turned out to be a good one for Zampa. He relied on his googlies and targeted the top of the stumps, resulting in 3 for 21 in 10 overs. However, it is to be seen how Zampa will make himself stand out amongst the Afghan spinners who have been ruling the department for a long time.
AUS VS AFG LIVE SCORE: ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP 2023 LIVE BLOG
Ahead of the big match, Zampa’s teammate Steve Smith admitted about the spinner’s improvement in the tournament and talked about his controlled lengths. Smith said, “I think he’s progressed beautifully throughout this tournament and I think he bowled beautifully the other night and to be fair, England batters probably didn’t put him under as much pressure as we thought they might have done but I thought he controlled his length and his pace beautifully and it’s probably as good as I’ve seen him bowl to be fair, and didn’t he just have a good day out with that ball and in the field! Yeah, it was a special day for him and yeah pleased to see.”
Adam Zampa – The Batter
29 off 19 (including four fours) vs England at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on November 4 got the cricket world buzzing about Zampa’s batting skills. Zampa, the batter, impressed fans with his batting cameo but to his teammate Cameron Green, it was ‘surprising’.
After the England game, Green said that Zampa’s performance boosted the confidence of the other players ‘100%’ but bit surprised seeing Zampa performing with the bat. “We were pretty surprised how he got a hit over with the bat but at the end we needed it, so nice to see him bat that way,” said Green.
While for Smith, Zampa has always been decent with the bat and has been a crucial lower-order batter. Smith also chuckled that Zampa might look to promote himself up the order.
“He might try and get himself up the order or something, I don’t know. But look, over the years I’ve seen him play a few different innings where he’s helped the team out for sure. I think the guys were talking in the sheds the other day when he was batting well about a domestic game he played against Queensland where he might have got like 40 off 20 balls or something like that and was hitting Billy Stanlake, like lapping him and things like that. So, he’s got all the shots, he’s got it all in the shed,” said Smith.
Comments
0 comment