World-beating doubles pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi made mincemeat of Jalil Khan and Asim Shafik for a straight-set victory to put India 2-1 ahead in their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group I play off tie against Pakistan in Mumbai on Saturday.
Captain Paes and Bhupathi carried too many guns 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 "Indian Express", 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 Pak duo three times, in the first, seventh and ninth games, to grab the set in 33 minutes.
Paes, brilliant with his net interceptions as is his wont, 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.
{{/usCountry}}The teams, meeting in Cup play after a gap of 33 years, shared the opening day's two singles rubbers.
{{/usCountry}}Rohan Bopanna lost to Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi and while Prakash Amritraj overcame Aqeel Khan.
The reverse singles would be played tomorrow with Amritraj scheduled to take on Qureshi in the first match followed by Bopanna vs Khan in the final encounter.