Adam Zampa on Skipping IPL 2024: “Had to take time out to rejuvenate”

Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa felt he couldn’t give the Rajasthan Royals the best version of himself, so he had to skip the IPL 2024.

Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa says his decision to withdraw from the 2024 Indian Premier League was due to being “completely drained from 2023”. 

The 32-year-old Zampa spent roughly five months on the road with Australia last year, including four in India for the IPL and ODI World Cup, and says the choice to skip this year’s tournament with the Rajasthan Royals was the right one for his mind, body, and young family.

Zampa on Missing IPL 2024

With a focus firmly on the T20 World Cup that will take place in the West Indies and United States in June, Zampa will now get some extra time at home before Australia’s quest for the short-form trophy. 

“There are several reasons why the IPL wasn’t for me this year,” Zampa told the Willow Talk podcast. “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.”

Zampa was due to turn out for the Jaipur-based IPL franchise for the second year in a row after being snapped up for A$270,000, but the decision to pull out came on the eve of the tournament. 

The leg-spinner managed only six matches last year, having to compete for a spot in the XI with fellow spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal. 

And Zampa says that lack of certainty around playing time was a major factor in the call. 

“It’s not like I can say to myself, ‘Well, that’s alright I’ve got 14 games to prepare for a World Cup’,” Zampa said.

“I don’t know whether that’s actually going to be two games or four games or six games. 

“So I worked out that maybe putting my family first, putting my body first was better for me. 

“It’s not an easy decision because you’ve always got that voice in the back of your mind going, ‘Pulling out of the IPL. What are people going to say? What happens the next time you want to go to the IPL? Do people kind of paint you with that brush?’. 

“But I wasn’t too fussed about it once I made that decision, I knew it was the right one.”

A staple in both one-day and T20 international teams for several years now, Zampa has represented Australia on 180 occasions (100 ODI, 80 T20I) and his resume now includes two World Cup titles, one in each format. 

And the leggie has made no secret of his ambitions to play Test cricket as well, despite rarely having the time to play first-class cricket. 

Zampa played two Marsh Sheffield Shield matches in 2022-23, taking six wickets for New South Wales, but he did not feature in the summer just completed. 

And while the dream is still there, he admits he would not trade his white-ball standing for a crack in the longest format. 

“It was always a dream of mine as a child and it’s just not worth enough for me to give up what I’m doing now in the white-ball team,” Zampa said. 

“Never has it come across my mind to be like, ‘OK, I really want a Baggy Green that much that I’m going to give up what I’m doing in the white-ball team’. And being a part of the white-ball team means you don’t get to play Shield cricket.

“I don’t know if I’m being silly with this comment, but winning World Cups, if I could end up my career with a few World Cups under my belt and I don’t end up with a Baggy Green, I think I’d take that over of playing one Test match for Australia.”