Pant playfully referenced the famous nursery rhyme "Johny Johny, Yes Papa... Eating sugar? No papa."
Rishabh Pant was at his hilarious best behind the stumps during India’s first Test against Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium.
On Day 3 of the match, the wicketkeeper was caught on stump mic motivating the Indian bowlers in his inimitable style.
Pant was heard telling wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav at one stage that the two batters playing are easy targets by saying "eating sugar ho jayega," playfully referencing the famous children's nursery rhyme "Johny Johny, Yes Papa... Eating sugar? No papa."
In cricket slang, "eating sugar" implies that taking these wickets will be as simple as a child eating sugar.
"KD, tera hi hain to yeh bhai wicket dono. Bete kha jayega idhar se toh yaar. Eating sugar ho jayega. (KD, both these wickets are yours for the taking, brother! You're going to swallow both from here, mate. Eating sugar will happen)," Pant was heard saying on the stump-mic.
Here’s the video:
Coming to the match, India bowled out Sri Lanka for 284, gaining a first innings lead of 178 runs at stumps on Day 3. The visitors had Sri Lanka reeling at 90/5 at one stage, but the hosts staged a fightback, thanks to a 146-run stand between left-handers Niroshan Dickwella and Sonal Dinusha.
Dickwella was dismissed for 80, but Dinusha went on to slam his maiden Test hundred. Manav Suthar led the wickets column for India with four scalps, while Ravindra Jadeja picked up three.
Jadeja became only the fourth player in Test history to pick up 350 wickets and score 4,000 runs. Early in the day, India’s first innings folded for 462.