Kevin Pietersen has put his weight behind leg-spinner Adam Zampa for the India Tests as he has termed his selection in the squad as a no-brainer. Pietersen has said that Zampa should be in the Australia squad, stating him as a responsible man for the job, “For me it’s a no-brainer with Zampa just because of his mindset, the way that he’s a competitor and the way that he’d never ever run away from competition or responsibility,” Pietersen said on Wednesday at Werribee open range zoo.
“I think if well-managed he can do a really good job for Australia,” he added.
While the duo of Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe are the confirmed bookings for the India tour, there will be a tough competition between the pool of players for the third spot, with Zampa being one of the aspirants for the spin duty in India. Steve O’Keefe has already been withdrawn from Big Bash league to prepare him for the India Test series, Adam Zampa has also been withdrawn from the T20 league to join the national squad for the ODI series against Pakistan.
“There’s a lot of players out there who get picked on statistics and there’s a lot of players who get picked on mindset.
“I’ve seen Zampa’s mindset, I’ve also seen the way that he bowls in tight games when we’ve asked him to get a job done. We asked him to get a job done the other night at Etihad Stadium [for the Stars] and he bounced back and did it,” Pietersen said in praise for Zampa.
Adam Zampa was the highest wicket taker in ODIs last year. The young right-arm leg spinner grabbed 30 wickets in 19 games he played, at an average of 27.80 and an economy rate of 5.36.
Pietersen also announced a verdict that it will not be an easy road for Australia in India and they might also lose the Test series, “I’m not saying by any stretch of the imagination that Australia is going to win in India because I don’t think they will win in India. I’ve just seen what happened to England in India, and they had [Adil] Rashid, who’s a pretty good leg-spinner, they had [Moeen] Ali, who’s a pretty good off-spinner, it just depends on the pace the spinners bowl in India.”
The Test series between the two countries starts from February 23, which will be the last leg for the Indian team of the long home series, which started on September 22 with a Test match against New Zealand at Rajkot. The last time Australia toured India for a Test series, they were trashed by a margin of 0-4 with Indian spinner doing most of talking in the series, the reason why Australia are preparing spinners for the series. The slow bowlers will be the key for the both the teams in the series.