I am used to jumping into tournaments,’ says Dubai Capitals’ Adam Zampa

Report: Umer Farooq

Dubai: Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa made an immediate impact for the Dubai Capitals in the DP World ILT20 with two Player of the Match performances in three games. Zampa was brought into the side before Dubai Capitals’ game against Desert Vipers in Dubai on Saturday, 28 January 2023.

When asked about how he moves from one tournament to the other, Zampa said, “I am used to jumping into tournaments. You’ve just got to try and bring a really good vibe. It can be really easy to come into a tournament and be in your shell a little bit. But if you can bring laughter and get around the guys, then playing on the field becomes easier.”

Speaking about his fantastic performance of seven wickets in three games for the Dubai Capitals, the Australian said, “I have a lot of experience in the UAE. Being able to adapt to the wickets has been helpful for me. Players think that there are big spinning wickets in the UAE since it’s in Asia and they bowl outside the bat. But I try to bowl a tad shorter and build pressure by bowling dot balls. Spinning the ball past the bat happens very rarely here.”

The Dubai Capitals are in the fifth spot on the points table after their 22-run loss against the Desert Vipers on Thursday. Zampa said that the team needs to fix a few mistakes, “We would like to be on the better side of the results. Our position on the table is not ideal. We need to fix a few mistakes that we have made. I thought we were pretty poor in the field against the Vipers. I thought our bowling was slightly off as well. The Desert Vipers assessed the conditions better than us.”

The Dubai Capitals will need to defeat MI Emirates in their next match and hope for Sharjah Warriors’ results to go their way to qualify for the playoffs. Zampa said that the team will concentrate on winning their next encounter, “If we can try and use the information that we’ve got from our last two games in Dubai in our next game in the same stadium, then we will have a chance of winning. Hopefully, other results go our way. All we can do is concentrate on that last game and try and win it. If the other results go our way, then it’ll be great.”

The Dubai Capitals will be up against the MI Emirates in their last league match of the DP World ILT20 at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.