'Flat' Zampa vows to move on after missing India Test tour

A bitterly disappointed Adam Zampa isn't prepared to give up on a Test debut just yet, but admits he doesn't know what his red-ball future holds after narrowly missing selection for Australia's tour of India next month. 

Zampa revealed ahead of tonight's return Melbourne derby between the Renegades and the Stars at Marvel Stadium that national selection chair George Bailey and head coach Andrew McDonald informed him his omission from the touring squad was one of the toughest calls they had to make.

The nation's premier white-ball spinner played his first Marsh Sheffield Shield match in three years last month just before KFC BBL|12, collecting 3-106 for NSW across both Victorian innings to show selectors he was keen to play a role in the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series.

But they ultimately kept faith in Queensland leggie Mitch Swepson as their wrist-spinning option for the seven-week Qantas Tour, having played four of Australia's five Tests on the subcontinent last year for a return of 10 wickets at 45.

Swepson will be joined by Ashton Agar and uncapped rising star Todd Murphy as the potential spinning partners for Nathan Lyon.

"I'm very disappointed, I would loved to have been on it," Zampa said.

"I thought with the way that I've been going in international cricket in particular that this was going to be my opportunity (to play Test cricket).

"And that was the messaging I got six weeks ago as well that this was going to be very good chance I could potentially be on it but now that I'm not, I'm very flat about it and it's time to just move on from it.

"I was really excited to potentially be on this tour … and the messaging was that my style of bowling might have been handy over there. 

"But I think potentially last minute that was a change of mind."

Bailey said following the announcement of the 18-player touring party on Wednesday that Zampa's limited first-class cricket in the past three years had worked against him.

"Zamps has displayed a real keenness to be around the Test squad and we just probably haven't seen enough red-ball cricket from him," Bailey said.

"And to be fair to Swep (Swepson) we've liked what he's given us when he's had his opportunities and (we'll) and continue to invest in him and see where he can get to."

With Australia not scheduled to tour the subcontinent again until February 2025 when they travel to Sri Lanka for a two-Test series, the only other away Test series where Australia could require an abundance of spinning options is an all-format tour of the West Indies later that year.

Zampa said he didn't know what was next for him in his red-ball career but with an ODI World Cup in India in October-November this year and another T20 World Cup in June 2024, that's where his priorities would be for the next 18 months.

"I'm not going to close the door completely to red-ball cricket," the 30-year-old said.

"But life is always about balance and I've got a family and these white-ball tours and World Cups that are coming up.

"So I've got to try and think about what's best for my body and myself and my family.

"It's two years until the next subcontinent tour, that's a long way away and I've got two white-ball World Cups to concentrate on before that."

NSW have another three Sheffield Shield matches that Zampa could play before departing for India for the three one-day internationals following the Test series, but revealed he was still weighing up whether to make himself available for his state.

"I don't know what is in store for me red-ball cricket wise, I'm just going to get through this Big Bash and reconsider," he said.

"I'll have those conversations with George Bailey and Andrew McDonald to see what the next little bit looks like for me, what's best for them and for myself, so those conversations will be had after the BBL." 

Border-Gavaskar Tour of India 2023

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

India squad for the first two Tests: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.

February 9-13: First Test, Nagpur, 3pm AEDT

February 17-21: Second Test, Delhi, 3pm AEDT

March 1-5: Third Test, Dharamsala, 3pm AEDT

March 9-13: Fourth Test, Ahmedabad, 3pm AEDT