Improving leg-spinner's efforts could put him in contention for Sri Lanka Test squad
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Adam Zampa's meteoric rise shows no signs of slowing down with the young leg-spinner likely to be named in Australia's Test squad to tour Sri Lanka this winter.
Australia are yet to name their squad for the three-Test tour, and Zampa's stunning performances in the subcontinent over the past two months look set to earn him a Test call-up.
Zampa has backed up an impressive World T20 tournament, where he was Australia's standout bowler, with a stunning debut season in the Indian Premier League.
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This week the 24-year-old claimed the second-best figures ever in the IPL, snaring 6-19 for the Rising Pune Supergiants against David Warner's Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Zampa would likely partner incumbent Test spinner Nathan Lyon and NSW left-arm orthodox Stephen O'Keefe in a spin attack that must be versatile, according to Test cricket's greatest wicket-taker Muthiah Muralidaran.
"They (Australia) have to take three spinners to Sri Lanka," Muralidaran told cricket.com.au.
"Two will play most of the time because you never know, sometimes it's better to have one off-spinner, one left-arm spinner and one leg-spinner (available).
"So it's a variation (of those three), whatever the wicket wants you'll have to adapt to that."
Zampa, along with Lyon and O'Keefe, was not included in the Australia A squad for the quadrangular series in far north Queensland this winter, indicating the South Australia spinner is heading to the island nation for his first Test tour.
The last Australian leg-spinner to play a Test in Sri Lanka was Shane Warne in 2004 in his comeback series after serving a one-year suspension for taking an illegal diuretic.
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Twelve years later it could be another blond leg-spinner that Australia turn to, and Muralidaran likes what he's seen so far of Zampa.
"I saw him play the T20s (in the World T20) when I was there, he's good," Muralidaran said.
"He turns the ball, that's the most important thing.
"And if he gets the line and length right he'll also be difficult for batsmen."
Muralidaran, who took a world-record 800 Test wickets in 133 matches including a whopping 493 victims on home soil, offered some advice on how Australia's spinner should approach their craft on Sri Lankan pitches.
"As a spinner you have to be very consistent," he said.
"The wickets are going to be slower and you don't get the bounce so you have to vary the pace in Test cricket, then you have a good chance."
While his first-class record doesn’t make for great reading – 53 wickets at 50.77 – Zampa has gone from strength to strength in his young international career.
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His solid one-day international debut in New Zealand in February secured his ticket to India for the World T20, where he claimed five wickets and conceded only 6.27 runs per over in Australia's disappointing group-stage exit.
In his two matches in the IPL, Zampa has captured eight wickets, with his 6-19 the best bowling performance by a wrist spinner and an Australian in T20 cricket.
Zampa removed class players Yuvraj Singh, Kane Williamson and Moises Henriques, and held his nerve in the final over to take three of his six scalps.
"Adam Zampa – a fantastic leg-spinner, he's got a bright future ahead of him," Warner told Sony Six after play.
"It just shows what a player he is and the class and the faith a captain like MS Dhoni has to bowl him in the last over of an innings which is a very crucial over to bowl."