"We'll keep it simple with line and length and the pitch will do the rest" - Rishabh Pant on India's plan for Day 2 of second IND vs SL 2022 Test 

Team India wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant believes that the bowlers plan to keep things simple on Day 2 of the second India vs Sri Lanka Test in Bengaluru. The visitors currently trail by 166 runs after an extraordinary Day 1 which saw the fall of 16 wickets.

The surface at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium aided the spinners right from the first session. Sharp turn and invariable bounce saw the downfall of several batters, including Pant, who scored a blistering cameo of 39 off 26 deliveries to help India reach 252.

Claiming that the team was aiming to score around 200-250 in the first innings on Day 1, Pant said ahead of the start of Day 2 action:

"As an individual, I did not think anything, I just saw the ball and if it was in the arc, I tried to get the most out of it. But, the team plan was to get atleast 200-250 on the board because we lost some early wickets. So, we were just looking to set some partnerships. We'll just keep it simple with line and length and I think the pitch will do the rest."

Pant added that bowling under the lights proved beneficial to the fast bowlers as they found heavy swing.

"The pink ball was swinging under the lights a lot more than the afternoon one, which helped our fast bowlers," he said.

Indian seamers accounted for five out of six Sri Lanka wickets that fell in the third session of Day 1. Bumrah registered figures of 3/15 while Shami chipped in with 2/18.

"Did not think 16 wickets would fall" - Rishabh Pant on the Bengaluru pitch

The dismissal of 16 wickets in Bengaluru on Saturday has now entered the record books as the most scalps on the first day of a day-night Test so far.

The 24-year-old said that the Indian thinktank expected the pitch to turn, which prompted the selection of Axar Patel. But they did not anticipate that so many wickets would fall on the very first day itself.

"No, did not think 16 wickets would fall," he said. "By seeing the wicket, we thought, yes it is going to spin, but it did not turn much in the second and the third session. I think it's going to turn in the first session too much, let's see how it goes."

Further assessing the pitch, Pant felt that the wicket was better to bat on as they day progressed.

"I think when we started in the afternoon, the wicket was slightly on the slower side and as the day progressed it became better to bat on," he said. "Yes, it was spinning a bit, the odd one was but at the end of the day it was getting better and better to bat on."

Sri Lanka could not make the most of the batting conditions in the latter stages of the first day after losing six wickets for 86 runs.