Adam Zampa records 2nd best bowling figures in IPL history

Australia's emerging leg-spinner, Adam Zampa, made history by registering the first five-wicket haul in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) during the clash between Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the ACA-VDCA Cricket stadium on 10 May.

The right-handed spinner, who made his debut for Pune during their encounter against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), finished his spell of four overs with six wickets to his name. His figures of 6-19 are now the second best, only behind Sohail Tanvir, in the history of the T20 tournament.

Also read:Hyderabad sink Pune to seal top spot in IPL

Pune skipper MS Dhoni introduced Zampa in the eighth over where the Oz spinner conceded just five runs and almost got Shikhar Dhawan stumped on the last delivery. But, after bowling just one over, Zampa was taken off the attack as Dhoni chose to bowl out Ravichandran Ashwin.

The 24-year-old spinner, held back for bowling in the death overs, was reintroduced in the 16th over where he began working his magic to outfox the opposition batsmen.

Zampa was up against Yuvraj Singh and Kane Williamson who looked in great touch and were eager to accelerate the innings for their side. But, the Australian bowler struck on the second delivery to dismiss Yuvraj for an aggressive 21-ball 23, while conceding just three runs in his comeback over.

In the 18th over, Zampa got rid of Williamson (32) and Moises Henriques (10) off successive deliveries to rattle Hyderabad's innings. After his spell of three overs, Zampa looked impressive with figures of 3-11. But, the leg-spinner wasn't done yet.

Dhoni tossed the ball to Zampa for the final over where the Aussie took three wickets at the expense of just eight runs. After getting hammered for a six on the first delivery, Zampa came back strong to dismiss Deepak Hooda (14), Naman Ojha (7) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1).

Out of the 24 deliveries in his spell, Zampa bowled 11 dot balls and conceded just one six. This was the first five-wicket haul for the Australian in T20 cricket. It was also the second six-wicket haul in IPL history after Tanvir's 6-14 for Rajasthan Royals (RR) against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2008.

The figures of 6-19 are also the best by an Australian bowler in T20s. The previous best figures were recorded by Michael Dighton who took 6-25 for Tasmania against Queensland in 2007.

Zampa's bowling heroics helped Pune in restricting Hyderabad to a below-par total of 137 runs.