IND vs AUS: Adam Zampa will be key for Australia in death overs, says Pat Cummins

Australia captain Pat Cummins has said that he might use Adam Zampa as a specialist death bowler against India in the upcoming 3-match ODI series. Zampa is coming off the worst hammering of his ODI career (0/113) against South Africa. He is expected to play a crucial role in the subcontinent as Australia hunt for their record-extending 6th ODI World Cup trophy.

Speaking at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, a day ahead of the first ODI, Australia captain Pat Cummins said that he might save four overs for Zampa for the final 10 overs.

“Zamps, he’s effective at not only keeping the run rate down but he can take a couple of wickets at the death, which is really important as well and sometimes it’s a bit harder for pace bowlers to do that,” Cummins said in the press conference.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we keep two, three or four overs up our sleeve with him,” he further added.

Zampa, contrary to his current form, has been Australia’s best ODI bowler at the death, picking up 17 wickets in the final 10 since ODI World Cup 2019, five ahead of Cummins’ 12 wickets at an economy rate of 7.56 and Starc’s nine at 7.36.

Cummins spoke about the team’s balance and how he wanted his players to settle down in their roles ahead of the tournament.

“We want to strike a balance between getting used to these conditions, hopefully winning some games, but also we don’t want to get to that first game (of the World Cup against India on October 8) and already be cooked,” Cummins said.

“But ideally, we’d like to structure up pretty closely to how we’re going to play in the World Cup. So batters batting in similar positions, as a captain I want to get used to how you use bowlers over here as it might be a bit differently to say South Africa or back in Australia,” he further added.

Cummins will not have the services of Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Starc in the first ODI match, who have been ruled out due to injuries. Cummins said that Australia are going to play around with their combinations and try to find the ideal balance.

“Hopefully we get some answers over the next few games,” the Australian captain concluded.

Follow the India Today channel on WhatsApp here.