RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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'Bowlers watch out': Angelo Mathews compares Rishabh Pant's disruptive impact to Virender Sehwag ahead of IND's 1st Test vs SL originally appeared on Cricket News .
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KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Angelo Mathews compared Rishabh Pant's disruptive batting style to Virender Sehwag's ahead of the Galle Test.
Pant needs three more sixes to become the first Indian batter to reach 100 in Test cricket history.
Mathews also warned that preparing rank turners for India could backfire on Sri Lanka , drawing from past experience.
Warning to Sri Lanka! Angelo Mathews believes Rishabh Pant could emulate Virender Sehwag at Galle
Angelo Mathews has thrown down a warning for Sri Lanka's bowlers ahead of the series opener in Galle, and it comes wrapped in some serious praise for Rishabh Pant.
The former Sri Lanka captain reckons India's wicketkeeper-batter carries the same game-changing menace Virender Sehwag once did on these very shores, and he's urging his own side's bowling attack to take notice.
Pant walks into this Test sitting on 97 sixes from 50 matches, just three shy of becoming the first Indian batter ever to reach a century of sixes in Test cricket.
It's a mark that's eluded even Sehwag and Rohit Sharma, two of the most fearless strikers India has produced. If Pant gets there in Galle, he joins an incredibly small club, as only three players in the history of men's Test cricket have cleared triple figures for sixes.
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Ben Stokes tops that list with 138, New Zealand's Brendon McCullum sits second on 107, and Australian great Adam Gilchrist rounds out the trio on exactly 100.
Mathews didn't hold back when drawing the comparison, reaching back to a memory from Sri Lanka's own golden spin era.
"I remember when Ajanta Mendis was running through the Indian batting line-up, Sehwag was the one standing tall. He was so destructive and such a disruption. Pant is such a player," Mathews told in an interview with the Times of India .
"Pant takes the game on as soon as he walks into the crease. So, bowlers, watch out. A player like that needs backing. A guy like that who can take the game away within a few hours should be backed."
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(Getty)
Could rank turners actually backfire on Sri Lanka?
The last time Sri Lanka actually beat India in a Test match, it happened right here in Galle, back in 2015, with Mathews leading the side as a fairly new captain at the time. And while most of the pre-series chatter has centred on how much spinners will dominate proceedings, Mathews offered a note of caution about going too far down that road.
"If I am not mistaken, India played on quite a few ranked turners against New Zealand and South Africa. Sometimes, it could backfire," he warned.
"We played on ranked turners against foreign teams, and it has backfired for us as well. Because it's not easy as a batsman to play on ranked turners, no matter how good you are."
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Pant's numbers back up every word of Mathews' praise
If one looks past the sixes count, Pant's recent Test history tells you exactly why Mathews rates him this highly. Across his last ten Tests, he scored a match-winning 92 against West Indies in Hyderabad, and contributed across tough away tours in Australia and England.
His unbeaten 159 in Sydney in 2019 remains one of the great overseas knocks by an Indian gloveman, and what stands out isn't just the runs; it's when he scored them: often walking in against the second new ball or with the innings under pressure.
That's really the crux of Mathews' comparison. Sehwag didn't just score runs; he changed the mood of a session within twenty minutes, forcing captains into defensive fields and bowlers into second-guessing their lines.
Pant does something remarkably similar, and if he gets even one hour of that swashbuckling swagger at Galle, Sri Lanka's bowlers may find out firsthand exactly what Mathews meant by "watch out."
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