On Tuesday April 27, Australian spinner Adam Zampa told he decided to quit the ongoing IPL 2021 as the bio-secure bubble in India is more vulnerable than that of the UAE last year.
Zampa said he felt safer in the UAE where the IPL was held last year. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald Zampa said, “We’ve been in a few (bubbles) now, and I feel like this is probably the most vulnerable. I just feel like because it’s India, we’re always being told about the hygiene over here and being extra careful… I just felt like it was the most vulnerable.”
“The IPL that was held in Dubai six months ago didn’t feel that way at all. I felt like that was extremely safe. Personally, I feel like that would have been a better option originally for this IPL, but obviously, there’s a lot of political stuff that goes into it. Obviously, there’s the T20 World Cup that’s meant to be happening here later this year. That’s probably going to be the next discussion in the cricket world. Six months is a long time,” Zampa added
This year Zampa didn’t play any match. He was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR1.5 crore.
“Obviously the COVID situation over here is pretty dire. I just felt, rocking up to training and stuff, obviously, I wasn’t playing in the team as well, I was going to training and I wasn’t finding the motivation. There were a few other things like bubble fatigue and the chance to get home, once all the news broke about the flights and everything. I thought this was the best time to make the call,” he said.
Zampa added, “There’s a lot of people coming out and saying games of cricket could be a reprieve for some people but that’s also going to be a personal answer. Someone who has a family member on their death bed probably doesn’t care about the cricket.”
He has no regrets about the loss of money he suffered due to withdrawing from this league.
Zampa said, “I feel like for leaving anyone leaving halfway through a tournament, it’s definitely a financial sacrifice. But from my point of view, I wanted to put my mental health first.”