"This competition will not last beyond this week" - Adam Zampa on pulling out of IPL 2021
Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa was a part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) squad when he pulled out of the IPL 2021 season alongside compatriot Kane Richardson. The duo cited bio bubble fatigue as the reason.
Zampa opened up on how once during that season, a fan breached the bio bubble to get their autograph and that prompted both Zampa and Richardson to talk to the RCB owners before pulling out of the league.
Speaking on The Final Word Cricket Podcast, here's what Adam Zampa had to say about his bio bubble experience:
"One day we were sitting by the pool and a fan came to ask for an autograph and the security came running. We thought if it was so easy to break the bubble, this competition will not last beyond this week. Lets just tell the owners what we think about. Luckily we were on the plane to Melbourne via Qatar when Australia was locked out and the IPL was binned four days later."
Zampa understands that cricketers like him are judged for pulling out of the IPL. However, he believes he was right as the tournament was halted soon after due to increasing COVID-19 cases.
Was pretty jaded from year-long quarantine: Adam Zampa
Adam Zampa revealed that having to quarantine during the COVID-19 period had already taken a toll on him physically and mentally. He spoke about getting to know how badly the second wave of COVID-19 had hit India through the news and stated (as per the aforementioned source):
"Looking back at the IPL that me and Kane pulled out of, we had done a week's quarantine into India and putting on the telly and it was the ABC channel talking about the covid situation in India. We looked at each other and were like "What are you gonna do?" He had a young family and we were pretty jaded from a year long into quarantine anyway so I was pretty tired."
Adam Zampa last played an IPL game in the 2020 season for RCB. He was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024 but pulled out ahead of the season citing personal reasons.