Australia’s young spinner, Adam Zampa, has dismissed India captain, Virat Kohli, twice in the tour so far — once in the first T20I and then, in the first ODI a couple of days ago.
And the young gun is excited. “It is nice to get players like (him) out,” he said ahead of the second ODI here on Monday.
When India toured Australia in 2018-19, Zampa had dismissed Kohli for four runs in the first T20I in Brisbane, and he cherishes those memories. “I thought the best one was the T20I here (in Visakhapatnam) and the first in Brisbane. I thought they were big wickets given the situation of the match and we ended up winning the game,” he said.
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“Getting Virat is one thing. He was in at the time and it was a big wicket, but then you also have to think about getting Dhoni and Rohit out. Virat is a big wicket, but there are six or seven big wickets in the Indian team,” Zampa said.
As a spinner, how challenging is it to tackle the Indian middle-order?
“It’s been an amazing line-up, ever since I started playing for Australia three years ago. It’s one line-up that has been a real challenge for me and its exciting at the same time. I want to ensure I don’t want to think too far ahead and not bee too harsh on myself,” he said.
“Virat and Rohit (Sharma) are amazing players and somehow I just need to be in the game for as long as possible and play my role as best as I can. That’s all I can really do,” he said.
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Having played in India during his IPL stint, Zampa also knows a thing or two about Indian wickets. “In India, the way the grounds are, you are going to get hit for boundaries. I just try to read the match scenarios and who I’m against and do my best from there,” he said.
With the side trailing 0-1 in the series, how much has captain Aaron Finch’s poor form affected the side? “If you ask Aaron, he will probably agree with you that he hasn’t been in the best form of his life. But in terms of morale, he has been unbelievable,” Zampa said. “He hasn’t captained a lot for Australia but he’s been doing a really good job to keep himself... Aaron’s really good,” he said.
The last time Australia toured India in 2017, the Aussie bowlers found it a bit tough to make a mark, but now things have changed. “The ball is coming out nicely and I have tried to adapt to the conditions as best as possible. We were here 18 months ago, we were a bit underdone, particularly myself. I hadn't played any cricket and I feel like I’m better prepared having played a lot of cricket this summer,” he said.
On asked whether Shaun Marsh will be available for the second ODI, Zampa said: “I think he might be jet-lagged but yeah, (he) could be available.”
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