Adam Zampa's greatest strength as a leg-spin bowler is that he knows his limits. He knows he is different as compared to an attacking leg-spinner like Imran Tahir or even a Kuldeep Yadav
Adam Zampa
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Adam Zampa's greatest strength as a leg-spin bowler is that he knows his limits. He knows he is different as compared to an attacking leg-spinner like Imran Tahir or even a Kuldeep Yadav. He knows he doesn't have the big forearms to bowl a leg-break like Shane Warne. Neither does he have rubber-like wrists like his Indian counterparts. He prides himself on bowling that back of a length delivery to ensure he barely gets hit over his head.
In Chennai on Sunday, Zampa looked anything but the bowler that was capable of executing under pressure as Hardik Pandya blasted him for 23 off a single over. On numerous occasions, the Aussie leggie continued to bowl a length that was way too full. "The length here is very important due to the size of the ground. On Australian grounds, you can mess up the length a little bit and can get away with it, purely due to the size of the ovals. Sometimes, bowling a bad ball is your best way out," said Zampa yesterday.
As an emerging leg-spinner growing up on the south coast of New South Wales, there are a couple of more talented spinners, but it was his ability to hold his nerve under pressure that promoted him to the Australian team. "I pride myself on bowling well under pressure, so it was disappointing not to execute things the way I would have liked to," he added.
While Zampa has the support of Steve Smith, he would love to be in an Indian spinner's shoes and have an experienced man like wicketkeeper MS Dhoni echo his thoughts. During the 2015 Indian Premier League, Zampa bamboozled some of the best batsmen in the game, but he had the advantage of listening to Rising Pune Supergiant ace Dhoni's advice from behind the stumps.