Australia's Adam Zampa breaks his silence on pulling out of IPL 2024

Adam Zampa was part of Australia’s ODI World Cup 2023 winning squad.

Australia leggie Adam Zampa has opened up on the reason why he decided to skip this year’s (Indian Premier League) IPL. Zampa had been due to join Rajasthan Royals but withdrew on the eve of the season having been involved through Royals’ previous campaign.

Zampa had spent quite a lot of time in India in 2023, as he was first part of the IPL 2023, where he played for Rajasthan Royals. And then was part of Australia’s ICC World Cup 2023 winning team. He then briefly stayed on for the start of the T20I series against India before leaving partway through.

His home season consisted of eight matches in the BBL for the Melbourne Renegades, followed by a white-ball series against the West Indies and New Zealand.

“There are several reasons why the IPL wasn’t for me this year. 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, that’s for sure,” Zampa told the Willow Talk podcast and was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

“Just to rest, putting my family first, putting my body first”- Adam Zampa on why he skipped IPL 2024

Zampa, who appeared six times for the Royals last season and took eight wickets, was also unsure how many games he would receive if he went on another long period away from home, with the franchise featuring Indian spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin.

While playing in the IPL could have helped Zampa prepare for the T20 World Cup, he took the decision based on his recent physical stress, mental health, and family obligations.

“It came down to my decision being I probably need to put my body and my mental health first. Then you throw a lot of other things into the equation as well, like the fact that I’ve got a young family. It’s not easy to spend nine weeks in India in my situation where I’m fighting for my spot in the team as well.

It’s not like I can say to myself, ‘Well, that’s alright I’ve got 14 games to prepare for a World Cup’. I don’t know whether or not that’s actually going to be two games or four games or six games. So I kind of worked out that maybe to rest, putting my family first, putting my body first, was better for me,” Zampa added.

Zampa will be a major component in Australia’s bid to win all three men’s global titles in the T20 World Cup, having won the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup in 2023.

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