The Australia vs Pakistan match in Bengaluru on Friday had one leg-spinner each, in both sides. Usama Mir had a forgettable day, first in the field and later with the ball as he was carted to all parts of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium by the Australian opening duo of David Warner and Mitchell Marsh.
In contrast, though, Adam Zampa had yet another profitable day with the ball, claiming 4/53 in his 10 overs. If his performance at Lucknow where he claimed another four-wicket haul was impressive, then his bowling under the lights in Bengaluru only proved further why he is regarded as one of the best wrist-spinners going around.
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The key difference in bowling between Mir and Zampa on Friday was length. While the former consistently bowled either too full or too short, Zampa opted to keep the ball just back of a length and confused the Pakistani batters about going forward or back to his deliveries.
A good example to this was the wicket of Iftikhar Ahmed at a crucial juncture of the chase. The batter had been given many short pitch and back-of-a-length balls in the overs preceding Zampa’s and was initiating a rebuild with Mohammad Rizwan, in pursuit of 368.
In the fifth ball of the 39th over, Zampa altered his length and bowled the ball fuller and forced Iftikhar to do something unordinary and attempt a short on the off-side. The ball skidded straight on and caught Ahmed in front of the stumps, with his bat stuck behind his pads. The umpire raised his finger and despite the batter taking the review, it was to no avail.
It was lovely deception bowling and as David Warner explained later, Zampa tends to skid the ball rather than give air to the orb and it worked on a surface that did not offer a lot to the bowlers.
“I think you’ve got two different kinds of bowlers (Mir and Zampa), don’t you? So, one shorter than the other. So, he got a lot more skid. So, they’re two different types of bowlers. And Zam’s just executed as well as he did so far in the tournament,” Warner said.
The numbers only back up the skill. Since January 2022, Zampa is only second behind Sandeep Lamicchane for most wickets taken by spin bowlers, having claimed 54 scalps in 25 matches at an average of 22.85. The control of length and the ability to induce the error in batters have been the standout points in many of those dismissals.
Australia head to Delhi next to face Netherlands and Pat Cummins will hope that his trump card can deliver the goods in those conditions as well.
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