Zampa under-bowled: Aussie fast-bowlers

Injured fast bowlers Mitch Starc and Peter Siddle have admitted surprise at Steve Smith’s decision to not bowl out Adam Zampa in Australia’s World T20 loss to India on Sunday.

The leg-spinner bowled two overs for 11 runs before Smith elected to turn to his pacemen late in the match rather than give Zampa his remaining allocation of overs, as India chased Australia’s total of 160 in the final over.

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The sublime Virat Kohli, who finished unbeaten with 82 off 51 balls, thrived against Australia’s fast-bowlers at the back-end of India’s run-chase.

Test quick Peter Siddle queried why Zampa, a revelation for Australia in a disappointing campaign, didn’t bowl his full allocation of overs especially given the success of India’s spinners earlier in the match.

“We’re all going to be asking questions for a couple of weeks now – why did he not bowl more?” Siddle asked on The Unplayable Podcast.

“I think India showed the way in the start of (Australia’s batting) innings as their spinners bowled well, took wickets and kept the runs down. (Ravi) Ashwin went for a few but the others held up an end and bowled well.

“I think throughout the tournament we’ve seen – with New Zealand and all their spin options doing well - that (spin) works.

“So that was the disappointing thing not to see Zamps bowl more. He’s shown in other games he can take wickets when given the opportunity and that’s what we needed to do (against India) when we needed to take wickets.”

While Ashwin had an off night, conceding 31 from two overs, left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja (0-20 from three) and Yuvraj Singh (1-19 off three) were economical.

Zampa only bowled one over in Australia’s tournament opening loss to New Zealand but claimed crucial wickets in Australia’s victories over Bangladesh (taking 3-23 off four) and Pakistan (2-32 off four).

Starc also thought Zampa was underutilised against India and was impressed with the leggie’s variations and changes of pace he’d displayed throughout the tournament.

“I was surprised to see he only bowled two overs,” he said. “He’s been very good throughout the tournament.

“He’s mixed up his pace well, he’s taken on the game. He hasn’t been afraid to throw the ball up there after going for a few boundaries so I think that’s a huge positive out of the tournament for Australia”

Aside from Shane Watson (2-23 off his four overs) and Zampa, Australia’s other bowlers all went at more than eight runs per over as India booked their spot in the semi-finals with their win.

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Starc, who is recovering from ankle surgery and was unavailable for Australia’s World T20 squad, defended Smith’s captaincy throughout the tournament but admitted he believed the match situation dictated more spin to be bowled.

“Zampa’s bowled really well in the previous two games but I do think we could have used him in those extra two overs,” Starc said.

“(Off-spinner) Glenn Maxwell comes on and takes wickets pretty much every game he plays so he’s another spin option (that could have been used more).

“Smithy’s been pretty good with rotating his bowlers and working out when to bowl them.

“It’s just one of those nights when you should have bowled Zamps the extra two.”