Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa opened up about why he pulled out of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He stated that he got worried about the bio bubble getting breached and thought that the league wouldn’t last long because of COVID-19. 

The 2021 edition of the IPL was one of the most challenging editions of the league. Due to Covid, the league was played in two legs one in India and then the other part was played in the UAE. It was challenging not only for the BCCI but for the players who had to stay in bio-bubble. 

Australia spinner Adam Zampa was part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru during that edition of the league. The leg-spinner, however, in the middle of the league pulled out of the tournament along with his Australian teammate Kane Richardson.

Adam Zampa was then criticized a lot for his decision as many fans and pundits lashed out at the leg-spinner for his decision. His absence even left a void in the RCB lineup as he surely would have been handy for the team in the UAE leg of the tournament.

Adam Zampa has now finally broken silence on why he opted out of the league. The leg-spinner revealed how even in the bio-bubble a fan breached the security and he thought that it wouldn’t be safe for him to stay and play. Speaking on The Final Word Cricket Podcast, he said: 

"One day we were sitting by the pool and a fan came to ask for an autograph and the security came running. We thought if it was so easy to break the bubble, this competition would not last beyond this week. 

“Let’s just tell the owners what we think about. Luckily we were on the plane to Melbourne via Qatar when Australia was locked out and the IPL was binned four days later.”

I was pretty tired - Adam Zampa

Adam Zampa further said that he along with Kane Richardson during the quarantine saw on television the poor situation of India during Covid. After that, he decided that he would be opting out as he already was tired. He added: 

"Looking back at the IPL that me and Kane pulled out of, we had done a week's quarantine into India and putting on the telly and it was the ABC channel talking about the COVID situation in India. 

"We looked at each other and were like "What are you gonna do?" He had a young family and we were pretty jaded from a year-long into quarantine anyway so I was pretty tired,” he concluded. 

Adam Zampa was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024 but pulled out ahead of the season citing personal reasons. 

Adam Zampa overall has played 20 games in the tournament and has picked 29 wickets in the four seasons that he has played. He has represented Royal Challengers Bengaluru (then Royal Challengers Bangalore) and the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant apart from Rajasthan Royals (RR).