Mumbai: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi defeated Pakistani pair of Asim Shafik and Jalil Khan in the doubles match to give India a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup tennis Asia/Oceania Zone Group I playoff at Mumbai on Saturday.
Captain Paes and Bhupathi proved to be, too, superior for the inexperienced Pakistani pair and gave the rivals a sound thrashing, winning the second day's doubles rubber 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and 40 minutes.
The duo, winners of multiple Grand Slam titles, broke their rivals' serve twice in the opening set, in the third and fifth games, to clinch it in 28 minutes.
The home team pair were even more dominating in the next set, breaking the Pakistani duo three times, in the first, seventh and ninth games, to grab the set in 33 minutes.
Paes, brilliant with his net interceptions, and Bhupathi - with excellent returns of serve, went into overdrive in the decider and took it with the help of two service breaks (4th and 6th), again in 33 minutes.
The teams, meeting in Cup play after a gap of 33 years, shared the opening day's two singles rubbers.
Rohan Bopanna lost to Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi and while Prakash Amritraj overcame Aqeel Khan.
The reverse singles would be played on Sunday with Amritraj scheduled to take on Qureshi in the first match followed by Bopanna versus Khan in the final encounter.
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