Despite West Indies' heroics in the third T20I, Australia won the series 2-1.
Australia’s interim T20I captain Mitchell Marsh has hailed legspinner Adam Zampa as the most important player in the Australian team. Adam Zampa had a topsy-turvy T20I series against West Indies recently. Zampa picked up 4 wickets in the first two matches, but was taken to the cleaners by the big West Indies power-hitters in the third T20I.
The right-arm legspinner went for 65 runs in his 4 overs and picked up the wicket of Roston Chase. Zampa went for 28 runs in the 19th over of the match, in which Russell smashed him for 4 sixes and 1 four.
Despite a poor day, skipper Marsh lauded Zampa by calling him the most important player of the team. “He bowled some really tough overs tonight. “The 19th (over), it’s probably the hardest over. We were banking on breaking that partnership at some stage and I held Zamps back there, but unfortunately we came off second best,” Marsh said.
“Zamps is by far our most important bowler and probably our most important player in this team,” Marsh further added.
Mitchell Marsh also praised his team for winning the series against a formidable West Indies team. “(To) win a series against a really good team was really impressive. They’re a formidable team with some amazing talent. They certainly bat deep and will be hard to beat on their home turf (at the T20 World Cup),” he said.
After failing to win the first two T20Is of the series, West Indies came back strongly in the last T20I. At one stage, they were tottering at 79-5, but Sherfane Rutherford and Andre Russell put on 139 runs in 11 overs to take them to a match-winning score. Rutherford scored 67* off 40 balls while Russell scored 71 off 29 which included 7 huge sixes.
Australia fought hard in the chase with David Warner scoring 81 off 49 balls. But he found very less support from other batters, and the home team could only manage 183/5 in 20 overs. Despite losing the match, Australia won the series 2-1.
Adam Zampa will play for Rajasthan Royals while Mitchell Marsh will represent Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024.
