Melbourne : Australia’s hat-trick hero Ashton Agar has described “rockstar” Ravindra Jadeja as his favourite player and said a chat with the India spin-bowling all-rounder has helped him to turn things around.
The 26-year-old Agar has revealed how a chat with Jadeja during Australia’s ODI tour of India last month inspired him ahead of his match-winning performance against South Africa at the Wanderers.
Agar registered a hat-trick in a five-wicket haul to guide Australia to a massive 107-run victory over South Africa in the first T20 International on Friday.
“I had a wonderful chat with Ravindra Jadeja after the India series. And just talking to him about spin bowling, (he said to) keep trying to spin the ball. So I was pretty inspired by talking to him,” Agar said.
The Australian said he would love to play like Jadeja.
“He’s my favourite player in the world – I want to play cricket like he does. He’s an absolute rockstar. He smacks them, gun fielder and spins the ball. But it’s just his presence when he’s out there, watching him filled me with confidence,” he was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
“When (he’s) batting, he has a really positive attitude and he takes that attitude into the field as well.