Adam Zampa Recalls An Incident From IPL 2016 When A Dig At Virat Kohli Backfired

Adam Zampa and Virat Kohli do have the fiercest of rivalries; however, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has fostered a good rapport between them too. It sparked as Adam Zampa played under Virat Kohli in the Royal Challengers Bangalore. While the Australian leggie did not get enough chances, he performed well in his limited opportunities. Nevertheless, there was a time when Zampa’s comments of underestimating the Indian captain backfired.

It was back in 2016 when Adam Zampa not only first emerged in international cricket but also IPL. On the other hand, Virat Kohli was an established cricketer and was on the path to achieving greatness. The 32-year old had already a stellar T20 World Cup 2016 and aimed to repeat his heroics for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in that IPL edition. And Zampa had fired up the RCB captain on his debut.

The 28-year old, who was a newbie in international cricket then, queried Kane Richardson about the two cricketers in his Twitter post – AB De Villiers and Virat Kohli. Despite not mentioning Kohli, the Royal Challengers’ captain had seen it. On the leg-spinner’s debut game, Virat smacked a boundary in the last ball of his over and advised him to stay away from Twitter. It was then that Adam Zampa realised that the RCB skipper reads everything. Interestingly, the Delhi batsman hammered an unbeaten 108 to lift his team to victory.

“I replied, typical, just taking the piss, ‘Who are they, mate? The Indian fans did not let me live it down. Virat had obviously seen it. I played my debut, bowled an over to him, the last ball of the over he smacked it for four, came down to me and said, ‘Stay a long way from Twitter, mate. I was like, ‘Geezers, this bloke reads everything on Twitter’. He went on to get 120 (108*) that day. I stoked the fire,” Adam Zampa told Sydney Morning Herald.

Virat Kohli and Adam Zampa’s performances in IPL 2016:

Virat Kohli and Adam Zampa both enjoyed outstanding seasons in their department in 2016. The right-handed batsman piled up a mammoth 973 runs in 16 matches in the extravaganza at 81 along with four half-centuries. The tally of remains the record for most runs in a single edition. The South Australian, who played for Rising Pune Supergiants, took 12 wickets in five games at 9.58 with best bowling figures of 4-0-19-6. It is the best bowling innings recorded by a spinner in IPL history.

Also Read: Adam Zampa Taken Aback By Virat Kohli’s Completely Different Nature Off The Field