Sydney: Promising Aussie leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who is eyeing a place in the national cricket team for the four-Test tour to India, has revealed that World No. 1 Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin likes to keep the secrets of his trade under wraps.
The 24-year-old Zampa, who shared the dressing room with Ashwin and his national team captain Steve Smith during last year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Rising Pune Supergiants, said the Chennai off-spinner bowled only leg spin to Smith at the nets.
“I think the way Ashwin bowled in the nets, you ask someone like Smithy (Smith) or guys that you can tell he’s going to come up against in international cricket. I think there was one net session to Smithy where he just bowled leggies for an hour,” Zampa was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
“I don’t think he (Ashwin) wants to give too much away,” the leggie added.
Zampa, who has often been compared with legendary leg-spinner and current India coach Anil Kumble for bowling quicker through the air instead of relying on spin and guile, isn’t perturbed by the criticism.
“I know a lot of people say ‘he doesn’t spin the ball enough’ and all that junk. I don’t really see a difference if the ball goes under the bat, over the bat or next to the bat,” he said.
“People have a lot of criticism on that side of my game but there’s other ways of taking wicket than being a big spinner of the ball.”
“A lot of people have been talking about my first-class statistics and all those things, but if I was given the opportunity, the way I bowled in Sri Lanka particularly and I know it’s Twenty20 cricket but during the IPL, the respect I’ve gained from those countries and the players now I think I would suit that role,” he added.
Zampa believed he has done enough to stake a claim for selection in the Test squad, citing his experience of playing the Indian Premier League and last year’s World Twenty20 in the South Asian country.
“I’ve performed well in the World T20 and the IPL and I think I’ve really earned the respect of some of the Indian players over there as well,” Zampa, who plays the shorter formats for Australia, said.
“To have my experience over there I think it would lead me in good stead towards playing in India.” Australia have not won a Test series in India since 2004 and were blanked on their previous trip to the subcontinent’s spin-friendly conditions in Sri Lanka last year.
