Rahul Dravid’s support has been great for me: Ajit Chandila

Jaipur: No one knew Ajit Chandila before the match between Rajasthan Royals and Pune Warriors started. But he became an overnight star by picking the first hat-trick of the Indian Premier League-V, attributed his success to the pep talk he got from former India spinner Narendra Hirwani.

Chandila took 4-13, including the hat-trick, in Rajasthan Royals' 45-run win over Pune Warriors here Sunday.

It was only his second game of the long tournament and he got to know about his selection in the playing eleven just before the start of the match.

"Rahul bhai (Dravid) told me in the morning that I was in. I was waiting for a chance from a long time and luckily I got it today. I immediately called up Narendra Hirwani and his words gave me a lot of confidence. The support of Rahul bhai has also been great," said Chandila, who has played only two first-class matches and 13 T20s for Haryana.

Chandila dismissed Jesse Ryder, Warriors skipper Sourav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa and Anustup Majumdar to put the visitors on the backfoot.

Asked whether his performance will make way bigger things in his career, the 28-year-old said: "Abhi to sirf shuruat hain ( It is only the beginning and there is a long way to go)." (IANS)