'It's World Cup year and I'm completely drained from 2023' - Adam Zampa shares reasons behind skipping IPL 2024

Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa was retained by Rajasthan Royals ahead of last year's auction for INR 1.50 crore. However, the experienced campaigner pulled out before the tournament citing 'personal reasons'. He recently revealed the reasons that prompted him to take the tough call.

The Australian cricketer said that he was willing to participate in the cash-rich league this year. However, he was drained from the amount of cricket he had played since last year, and with the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in June, he wanted to give his mind and body some rest.

"There are several reasons why the IPL wasn't for me this year. I think the most important one was the fact that it's a World Cup year and I'm completely drained from 2023. I did the full IPL last year. Obviously, the World Cup was three months in India as well," Zampa told the Willow Talk podcast.

"So I had the best intentions of trying to play the IPL again this year. But once push came to shove, I felt like I just couldn't really offer the Rajasthan Royals the best version of myself and looking forward to the World Cup, that's what's more important to me, that's for sure," he added.

Also Read: IPL 2024: Rajasthan Royals introduce first-ever Hot Air Balloon viewing experience for fans

Zampa bagged eight wickets in six matches for the Royals last season as he formed a nice triumvirate with experienced Indian spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin. The Shellharbour-born said that he would have had to fight for his place in the playing XI and he considered that while skipping the IPL.

"It came down to my decision being I probably need to put my body and my mental health first. "Then you throw a lot of other things into the equation as well, like the fact that I've got a young family. It's not easy to spend nine weeks in India in my situation where I'm fighting for my spot in the team as well. It's not like I can say to myself, 'well, that's alright I've got 14 games to prepare for a World Cup'. I don't know whether or not that's actually going to be two games or four games or six games. So I kind of worked out that maybe just to rest, putting my family first, putting my body first, was better for me," Zampa said.

"It's not an easy decision because you've always got that voice in the back of your mind going, 'pulling out of the IPL, what are people going to say? What happens the next time you want to go to the IPL? Do people kind of paint you with that brush?'. But I wasn't too fussed about it once I made that decision, I knew it was the right one," he added.

Also Read: IPL 2024: Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans, 24th Match - Who Said What?

Rajasthan have been doing quite well in the early goings of IPL 2024. They won four games in a row before suffering their first defeat of the season against Gujarat Titans on Wednesday, April 10. The Sanju Samson-led side is placed at the top of the points table with eight points from five matches.