WATCH - Niroshan Dickwella tries to emulate Rishabh Pant’s sledging but suffers an epic fail

Rishabh Pant’s sophisticated sledging in the recently-concluded India vs Australia series made him a sensation among many cricket fans all over the world. His hilarious sledges and attempts to throw the Australian players off guard won him plenty of admiration on social media. His solid keeping and aggressive batting helped India become the first Asian team to win a Test series in Australia. Looking at the exploits of Pant, Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella tried to copy his sledging technique on day 3 of the Canberra Test. He went after Usman Khawaja but unlike Pant, his sledging had an opposite effect.

Video footage and stump mic audio shared by Cricket Australia on their official Twitter handle captured the moment when Dickwella went after Khawaja. “No runs under his belt, no runs under his belt. I remember only the Marsh brothers here.” To this, Khawaja asked, “Do you want me to tell him to take the bowling tape off his fingers? I can but he won’t bowl anymore”. “I can, but he won’t bowl anymore.” “Are you that scared of his tape?” Dickwella replied. Khawaja said: “Nah, I’m just saying the sportsmanship goes both ways.”

Have a listen to the banter from Dickwella behind the stumps! #AUSvSL pic.twitter.com/TtXxXQJ40n

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 3, 2019

Afterwards, Dickwella responded by saying, “I am not telling anything to you. I really wish you could get some runs here. I don’t want you to feel bad after this series, watching your team play on TV.” However, the sledge spectacularly backfired as Khawaja became the fourth batsmen to hit a century in the match as Australia ended the day with Sri Lanka requiring 500 runs to clinch a spectacular Test.

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Pant took social media by storm with his magnificent sledging in the four-Test series which India won 2-1. In the Melbourne Test, Pant was heard speaking to Mayank Agarwal when Tim Paine came to the crease. “We got a special guest today. Have you ever heard of a temporary captain, ever, Mayank?” Pant said.  Pant referred to him as a “temporary captain”. “We got a special guest today. Have you ever heard of a temporary captain, ever, Mayank? You don't need anything to get him out, boy. He loves to talk, that's the only thing he can do, boy! Only, talking, talking, talking,” Pant retorted in grand style.

In Adelaide, his sledges, notably to Usman Khawaja when he said, “Not everyone is like Pujara here”. On the final day of the match, Pat Cummins was on the receiving end when Pant sledged him from behind by saying, “Come on Patty, we need some sixes now”.

Dickwella’s attempted sledges has shown – he is NO Pant.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Rishabh Pant's keeping, sledges and batting gave India a big win in the series against Australia.
• Sri Lanka have never won a Test in Australia.
• Niroshan Dickwella hit a fifty in the Brisbane Test against Australia.