JOIN USZampa looks to make amends
A candid Adam Zampa admitted he completely erred against India’s Hardik Pandya but said he has learnt his lesson from the carnage and is looking forward to make an impression in the remainder of the series.
The leg-spinner, who was playing his first one-day international in India, was carted for one four and three sixes in the 37th over by Pandya as India staged a remarkable turnaround to win the opening game of the five-match series. The 25-year-old paid the price for bowling full length, becoming an easy meat for Pandya. He, however, gained revenge when he pulled his length back to dismiss Pandya four overs later.
“I did not execute the plans on how I would have liked to bowl in the over against Hardik,” Zampa said at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday. “It would have been important to get him off strike. Probably I bowled three balls too full. As soon as you miss against a player like Hardik, it’s going to go the distance as he is a very good player.
“Length here is very important with the size of the ground. In Australia you can mess up your length a little bit and you probably will get away with it purely because of the size. Here the length is very important. I pride myself on bowling well under pressure but the other day I did not execute it too well. You never like to be hit for three sixes in a row. But I guess it does happen, probably happened to Shane Warne. (It’s important) you don’t put yourself under too much pressure and learn from those situations.”
Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a major role in India’s victory on Sunday, first by forging a match-winning 118-run partnership with Pandya and then a crucial 72-run stand with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Zampa said Dhoni’s vast experience is of immense benefit for the youngsters in the team. “MS has obviously done it for a long time and probably played a lot of innings under pressure like that. The way he has timed his innings in his whole career is brilliant. To have him as a guide for a young player like Hardik and other young players in the Indian team probably is very helpful. It was very important to try and break that partnership and obviously we did not bowl too well in the middle phase personally.”