There is no doubt that when it comes to white-ball cricket, there are not many as good as Aussie spinner Adam Zampa. So, when he decided to pull out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction for the ongoing season, many were surprised. However, the leg-spinner recently explained that not getting enough money as well as the length of the IPL played a role in his not choosing the high-profile league.
Zampa instead joined the Pakistan Super League (PSL), where, in view of the length of the competition (shorter compared to the IPL), the payment is acceptable to him. Karachi Kings’ Zampa is right to some extent. There are not many examples that out-and-out spinners from abroad get exceptional money in the IPL.
Overseas batsmen, fast bowlers and all-rounders,more often than not, fetch great money in line with the big monetary reputation of the league.
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In an interview to ESPNcricinfo, the legspinner discussed the matter at length and said almost all IPL teams prefer to play domestic spinners over their overseas spinners. So, the call he made wasn’t without some prior bad experience.
Some valid points there!
“My skillset doesn’t get the same value there, and you can understand the auction dynamics at the IPL always leans towards fast bowlers or all-rounders. They go to domestic spinners more often than not in that competition. I think legspinners being undervalued is specific to the IPL. It’s always been the case. You even look through good Australian legspinners who come to mind. Brad Hogg played a little bit of IPL. Shane Warne played a bit of IPL. No one else, really.
“You look at Adil Rashid, who’s had limited opportunities; he’s one of the best to have done it. Overseas spinners are valued in the English competitions, and certainly in the Big Bash. Basically, every other competition. Overseas finger spinners as well. In the IPL, they’re few and far between unless you can hit it out of the park or you’re a mystery spinner. So the fact that I can’t hit the ball out of the ring isn’t helpful to that either, but being a finger spinner and finger spinner only, it’s hard to get a gig at [the IPL],” Zampa, who is making 60 per cent less money than he made with Sunrisers Hyderabad last year (approximately USD 258,000) in the IPL, said.
A lot of cricket can lead to injuries too. That could be another reason for Zampa. He had picked up injury last season and had to pull out on account of that, after just featuring in two matches.
