Christian will make Twenty20 popular among Oz indigenous communities: Gillespie

Melbourne, Feb 18(ANI): Former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie reckons that allrounder Dan Christian's emergence as Australia's next Twenty20 specialist can make cricket famous among the indigenous communities of the country.

Christian, who has been called into the Twenty20 squad to face West Indies in Hobart and Sydney, is poised to become just the second player of Aboriginal heritage to represent Australia.

Christian's favourite format is Twenty20 and Gillespie believes it's a preference shared by a majority of young indigenous sportspersons.

"Cricket Australia sees that footy is so popular in indigenous communities. They don't need a lot of equipment, they get the footy out and they are away playing a game," The Daily Telegraph quoted Gillespie, as saying.

"Twenty20 is a shorter form of the game and keeps people interested," he added.

Gillispie further said that having a new poster boy for Twenty20 like Christian will make the job of selling cricket much easier.

"We see it already that Twenty20 is bringing new audiences into cricket and new players emerge from Twenty20. I know Matty Hayden is really pushing hard to help indigenous cricket and Twenty20 cricket is a fantastic stepping stone," Gillispie said.

"It is great for the indigenous community that we have a young player like Dan who has come through the ranks and worked hard and got performances on the board. I just think it is fantastic for the Aboriginal community. Everyone will be so proud of him making the Australian squad," he added. (ANI)