Kolkata: Australia’s Adam Zampa admitted here Tuesday that he failed to execute his plans against Hardik Pandya, whose single-over 24 runs off the leg-spinner proved to be decisive in the first ODI against India.
“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,” said Zampa while recalling the 37th over when he was hit for three sixes in a row by the Indian all-rounder.
“As soon as you miss against a player like Hardik, it’s going to go the distance. Hardik is a very good player,” he added.
The 25-year-old, who is the Aussie’s main spin weapon, said the ‘length’ is very important in the sub-continent. “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,” Zampa pointed out.
But in spite of talking about his one ‘bad’ over against Pandya, the Aussie leg-spinner said it was MS Dhoni’s presence in the middle that helped Pandya.
“MS has obviously done it for a long time, playing under pressure. His presence in the middle was a huge boon for a youngster Pandya. His guidance is invaluable and the way he performs holds the key to the series,” pointed out Zampa.
Zampa while admitting the Aussies did not bowl too well in the middle overs at Chennai asserted that they have plenty of variety in the attack to comeback in the series. “Obviously, we bowled the wrong length at Chennai, particularly to new batters. But having said that we have variety to come back into the series,” Zampa said.
Press Trust of India