As big a responsibility as he has, Zampa has an opportunity to seal his authority further and show why he is among the finest wrist spinners of this generation.
Has a more depleted Australia unit ever been in an ICC event than the Champions Trophy 2025? The answer is a big NO. From the batting to the bowling department, Australia are missing several quality players for various reasons.
The Big 3 – Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood – will take no part while Mitchell Marsh is out due to an injury. Marcus Stoinis announced sudden retirement days before the competition as if this was not enough.
To exacerbate things, most Aussie batters have not been in great form since the last year, either. Form issues with key batters and the unavailability of main speedsters leave too much work for spinners, but the worst part is they only have Adam Zampa as a quality operator.
Adam Zampa is among the finest wrist-spinners in world cricket and has done immensely well in the last few years. Since 2023, Zampa has the second-most wickets (54) at 28.31 runs apiece among spinners of teams participating in the Champions Trophy 2025.
In the middle overs, he has 37 wickets at an average of 33.02 and a 35.89 strike rate in this period. He can be expensive sometimes, as his economy rate (5.52) suggests, but he does his role precisely by bringing wickets.
That’s the job of a wrist-spinner - bring wickets, even if they come at the cost of conceding runs. That role will be more pronounced when he needs to do the heavy lifting by bringing regular breakthroughs.
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For the record, Adam Zampa has six wickets at 26.50 runs apiece in three outings in Pakistan. But those came in 2022, and a lot has changed regarding tracks in Pakistan.
Since 2023, spinners have had the worst average (50.19) and strike rate (55.38) in Pakistan. Even their economy rate (5.43) depicts how difficult run-controlling has been for slow bowlers.
It’s not that the difference is due to the wrist-spinners and off-spinners being merged into one. The wrist-spinners individually have averaged 47.06 and conceded 5.72 runs per over in Pakistan, which suggests no turn available for anyone.
Australia will play two games in Lahore, where spinners have conceded as many as 50.95 runs for every wicket and leaked 5.56 runs per over. Their only other league-stage fixture is in Rawalpindi, where tweakers average 131 and have conceded 6.59 runs every over in two matches.
The only other wrist-spinner in Australia’s squad is Tanveer Sangha, who has played only three ODIs. He is unlikely to start in the XI, either.
The other main option remains Glenn Maxwell, but off-spinners might not succeed if the previous record is anything to go by. In fact, he can concede too much on flat surfaces since he also requires some assistance to show his value.
Without any support, Zampa will automatically feel more pressure, which can reduce his own strengths. The simple formula in ODIs is that finger spinners provide control, enabling wrist spinners to snare wickets from the other end, but that doesn’t seem to happen at any venue in Pakistan.
Unfortunately, Australia are placed in Group B with England, South Africa, and Afghanistan. They are all quality teams with solid spin players.
England might have struggled against India recently, but they won’t have any issues on those flat Pakistan decks. A few of their players have previous experience playing in Pakistan, which will give them further confidence.
Meanwhile, South Africa have some of the finest players of spin who can bat in different gears and easily take on the finest spinners. Afghanistan also possess a few good spin batters, and their batters won’t have too many issues on decks where the ball comes nicely.
While the decks are flat, and spinners are unlikely to have anything to extract off the deck, Adam Zampa is still skilled enough to deceive batters with his superior variations. He has done well almost everywhere due to his skill sets.
He is not a great turner of the ball but can bowl in those immaculate areas consistently to keep batters in check. That automatically induces false shots, resulting in dismissals.
As big a responsibility as he has, Zampa has an opportunity to seal his authority further and show why he is among the finest wrist spinners of this generation. If he can do the heavy lifting in Champions Trophy 2025, Australia’s chances of succeeding in another ICC tournament will surge.
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