Australian star spinner Adam Zampa has cited “several reasons” for opting out of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season. Zampa was scheduled to join Rajasthan Royals (RR) but decided to pull out of the cash-rich tournament on the eve of the season opener. He is a key figure in Australia’s success in winning the 2023 World Cup. He delivered game-winning performances to the six-time champions while battling injuries. Zampa represented Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League and made eight appearances. He then played in Australia’s white-ball series against the West Indies and New Zealand.

The 32-year-old revealed that he was “completely exhausted” after the ODI World Cup and felt he could not give the best of himself to RR.

“This year’s IPL wasn’t for me for a few reasons. I think the biggest one is that it’s a World Cup year and I’m completely exhausted for 2023. I played a full IPL last year. Obviously, the World Cup is also in India. Three months,” Zampa told the Willow Talk podcast (quote cricket.com.au).

“So I would have liked to play in the IPL again this year. But once push came to shove, I felt like I couldn’t really give my best to Rajasthan Royals and look forward to the World Cup, which is more important to me, that’s for sure ,” he added.

In IPL 2023, Zampa made six appearances for RR and took eight wickets. With RR already enjoying the services of star Indian spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin, Zampa is unsure how much game time he will get in the long season.

“It depends on what I decide, I might need to put my physical and mental health first. Then you have a lot of other things to consider, like I have a young family. It’s not easy in my situation. , I will be spending nine weeks in India and I am also fighting for my place in the team,” he said.

“I couldn’t say to myself, ‘OK, that’s okay, I have 14 games to prepare for the World Cup’. I didn’t know if it was actually two games, four games or six games… so I thought maybe It’s better for me to just rest, put my family first, put my body first,” he added.

Zampa went on to say that he would not be “worried” about the reaction he would receive if he opts out of IPL 2024.

“It was not an easy decision because you always have that voice in your head, ‘Quit IPL, what will people say? What will happen next time you want to go to IPL? People paint you with that brush? ‘. But once I made the decision, I didn’t make too much of a fuss, I knew it was the right thing,” he said.

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