Hope I could dismiss Pandya earlier next time: Adam Zampa

Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa has admitted that he failed to execute his plans against Hardik Pandya on Sunday in Chennai. He has also hoped that he would be able to dismiss him earlier next time. Indian all-rounder Pandya racked up 24 runs off the single over of the bowler which included 3 consecutive sixes which turned the momentum in India’s favour in the first ODI of the 5 match series.

Australia had India on the mat as the score read 87/5 after the hosts opted to bat first. But Pandya, along with MS Dhoni formed a crucial partnership and bailed Men in Blue out of trouble as they posted more than competitive 281 runs on the board. Visitors crumbled in the shortened chase of 164 runs in 21 overs and eventually lost the game by 26 runs handing India 1-0 in the series.

MS has done it for a long time now

The young leggie accepted that he came under pressure during Pandya’s assault and missed his length. “I pride myself on bowling well under pressure but the other day I did not execute how I would have liked to in the over against Hardik. It would have been important to get him off the 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. Hardik is a very good player,” he said.

Zampa also said that it’s important to learn from these situations and also expressed confidence that he would like to dismiss the all-rounder early next time around. “In Australia, you can mess up your length a little bit and you will probably get away with it purely because of the size (of the ground). Here the length is very important. You never liked to be hit for three sixes in a row. But I guess it does happen, probably happened to Shane Warne. As long as you don’t put yourself under too much pressure and learn from those situations, it’s good. Hopefully, I will get him out earlier next time,” he added.

The 25-year-old bowler heaped praises on his Rising Pune Supergiant teammate Dhoni, who played yet another responsible knock when the conditions were demanding. “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 probably something. To have him as a guide for a young player like Hardik and others in the Indian team is very helpful,” Zampa concluded.