Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa has revealed he decided to skip this year’s Indian Premier League because he felt “completely drained” following a busy eight months on the road.The 32-year-old, who was set to represent the Rajasthan Royals on a $270,000 contract, last month pulled out of the IPL on the eve of the lucrative T20 tournament due to personal reasons.
With focus firmly on the T20 World Cup that will take place in the West Indies and United States in June, Zampa will now get some extra time at home before Australia's quest for the short-form trophy. "There are several reasons why the IPL wasn't for me this year," Zampa told Willow Talk Podcast "I think the most important one was the fact that it's a World Cup year and I'm completely drained from 2023.
"I did the full IPL last year. Obviously, the World Cup was three months in India as well. So I had the best intentions of trying to play the IPL again this year. "But once push came to shove, I felt like I just couldn't really offer the Rajasthan Royals the best version of myself and looking forward to the World Cup, that's what's more important to me."The leg-spinner managed only six matches last year, having to compete for a spot in the XI with fellow spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
And Zampa says that lack of certainty around playing time was a major factor in the call. "It's not like I can say to myself, 'Well, that's alright I've got 14 games to prepare for a World Cup'," Zampa said."I don't know whether that's actually going to be two games or four games or six games. "So I worked out that maybe putting my family first, putting my body first was better for me.
"It's not an easy decision because you've always got that voice in the back of your mind going, 'Pulling out of the IPL. What are people going to say? What happens the next time you want to go to the IPL? Do people kind of paint you with that brush?'. "But I wasn't too fussed about it once I made that decision, I knew it was the right one.
