Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa starred in the team's five-wicket win against Sri Lanka at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium here on Monday night and the spinner is keen to take more wickets for his team in the ongoing marquee tournament. Adam Zampa returned with fine figures of 4/47 as Australia bundled out Sri Lanka for a meager 209 and then chased the target with ease. However, Zampa, who was taken to task in Australia's first two outings against India and South Africa, opined that expensive figures don't bother him as he bowls to get wickets.
Australia started their World Cup 2023 campaign on a disastrous note as they lost to India in Chennai and South Africa in Lucknow. Their win against Sri Lanka kept them alive in the tournament. "I'm very good at self-reflection. I look back on the first two games and I'll probably look at the last game as one where I could have made a difference there and made it easy for those other guys," Zampa said after Australia's win.
"But yeah, the Indian game, I mean, we're under the pump defending 200 and I'm always going to be the guy who tries to get wickets. I'm not going to try and let the game peter out and let it go into nothing. So yeah, figures, whatever," added Zampa, who registered figures of 0/53 and 1/70 against India and South Africa respectively.
"It's more about my attitude and reflecting on that too. Did I bowl the ball where I wanted it to? Did I make the right decisions? Did I put my game on the line to try and make a difference? And that's how I think about it. I don't really care about combined figures. It's just doing what I can to try and help win the game," Zampa said.
Sri Lankan openers Kusal Perera and Pathum Nissanka had added 125 runs for the first wicket and when it looked like they would score big, Australian skipper Pat Cummins provided his side with a much-needed breakthrough. And Zampa admitted that it was Cummins, who changed the game for Australia. "I thought (Pat) Cummins' spell in particular was a bit of a game changer for us and even his energy in the field, the run-out after the rain break, yeah, it changed the energy for us.
"He kind of led from the front. His spell changed the momentum of the game. And then same as in the field, that run out, those little things can turn scores from 210 to 260, and it's game on. So, he particularly led from the front," Zampa added. Australia next takes on Pakistan in Bengaluru and Zampa said it is a big game for his side.
"After the first two games, there's definitely a flat feeling in the change rooms. We all know that you could probably go from 1 to 11 and say we all could do our roles a little bit better, particularly those first two games. "But we know, as boss (Cummins) said the other day, we get backed into a corner and guys step up and we get on a roll, then anything can happen. It's a World Cup, so get on a roll.
Obviously, really big game against Pakistan in Bangalore (Bengaluru), and if we can put it all together and play a good game there, you go 2 and 2 and the feeling's much better," he concluded.
