PALLEKELE: Australian spinner Adam Zampa went past West Indies batting icon Chris Gayle, becoming the player with the second-highest ‘Player of the Match’ awards in the ICC T20 World Cup history.
Zampa achieved this massive upward movement in tournament charts during his side’s final group stage match against Oman at Pallekele. Aussies played with nothing to lose, for their pride, and Zampa’s 4/21 in 3.2 overs was at the heart of their dominant performance.
With this, Zampa has earned his sixth POTM in the T20 World Cup, overtaking Gayle, who had five. The player with the highest T20 WC POTM awards is
Virat Kohli. The Indian icon has eight ‘Player of the Match’ awards and is the top run-getter in the tournament history, having earned these awards with some classic, clutch knocks coming during the biggest and most critical situations.
Zampa surpassed Afghanistan spin superstar Rashid Khan to become the second-highest wicket-taker in the history of the ICC T20 World Cup.
With this outing, Zampa now has 44 wickets in 25 T20 World Cup matches at an impressive average of 13.84. His tally includes one five-wicket haul and three four-wicket hauls to his name, and best figures of 5/19. He has overtaken Rashid, who took 43 scalps in 27 matches at an average of 15.30 and three four-wicket hauls to his name.
The highest wicket-taker in T20WC history is Bangladesh legend Shakib al Hasan, who has 50 wickets at an average of 20.12 with three four-fers and best figures of 4/9.
With his fourth four-wicket haul, he has also overtaken Shakib (three four-wicket hauls) for most four-fers in T20 WC history.
Zampa ends his T20 WC campaign with eight wickets at an average of 14.50, with two four-fers to his name.
Coming to the match, Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first.
Wasim Ali (32 in 33 balls, with four boundaries) was the only batter to cross the 20-run mark as the rest of the batters barely offered any resistance against an Aussie attack wounded by an early exit from the tournament. The Aussies were out for blood, skittling out Oman for 104 in 16. 2 overs, with Glenn Maxwell (2/13 in three overs), pacer Xavier Bartlett (2/27 in four overs) being amongst the thick of action. Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Ellis also got a wicket each.
In the chase, skipper Mitchell Marsh (64* in 33 balls, with seven fours and four sixes) and Travis Head (32 in 19 balls, with six fours) bludgeoned the bowling attack, chasing down the target in 9.4 overs with nine wickets in hand.
Australia end at the third place in their group, with two wins and two losses. After the match, Zampa reflected in his ‘Player of the Match’ speech that the group had endured “really tough few days” and felt really “quiet and flat” after their campaign fizzled out in the group stage itself with humiliating losses to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.
“We genuinely felt we had built something over the last few years and had a clear brand of cricket we believed would stand up. Unfortunately, when the pressure came, it just did not work for us. So it is disappointing. I think that did happen a little bit. But looking back, I also feel I could have done more – particularly in that game where we were one for 110. You would expect a much bigger total than 180 from that position. My contribution in that match was not where I wanted it to be, and I am not happy with that,” he said, reflecting on the match against Sri Lanka where he went wicketless for 41 runs in four overs while defending 182 runs.
Zampa feels his execution has not been consistent enough and does not feel “ready to be flying home tomorrow”.
“As I said, players sitting on me definitely played a part, but from my point of view, I could have executed better, especially in the last game. My job is to take wickets through the middle overs. I managed to do that in a couple of games, but not consistently enough. We have built something over the last few years, and in big tournaments, everyone has to play their role. Unfortunately, when it mattered most, we could not quite get it done.
You would always rather take wickets than not, but honestly, it is not really on my mind right now. I am pretty disappointed overall. I’m certainly not ready to be flying home tomorrow,” he concluded.
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