Ashton Agar became the Man of the Match after picking up a hat-trick against South Africa and helped Australia to win the first T20I in Johannesburg. He had contributed with an unbeaten 20 off nine deliveries before that as well. His bowling figure read 5/24 as he scalped the wickets of Faf du Plessis, Andile Phehlukwayo and Dale Steyn in his very first over and in the process, he went on to become the second Australian bowler after Brett Lee to pick up a hat-trick in this format. Brett Lee had achieved the feat against Bangladesh in Cape Town in 2007.
Then he took two more wickets of Pite van Biljon and Lungi Ngidi and South Africa were bowled out for a meagre 89 with 33 balls remaining. After the match when Agar was speaking about his game he recalled his conversation with Ravindra Jadeja. He said, “I had a wonderful chat with Ravindra Jadeja after the Indian series. He’s my favourite player in the world. I want to play cricket like he does. He’s an absolute rock star.”
The all-rounder Jadeja is a great batsman down the order, able to hit shots when needed, comes handy with the ball, and an outstanding fielder. The way Jadeja contributes from all aspects of the game impresses Agar. The Australian superstar went on to explain, “He, like, smacks ’em, he’s a gun fielder and he spins the ball. But it’s just is presence when he’s out there. Watching him fielding with confidence and just talking to him about spin bowling – keep trying to spin the ball. When you’re batting, he has a really positive attitude and he takes that attitude into the field as well. I was pretty inspired by talking to him.”