ISLAMABAD: India bla­n­ked Pakistan 4-0 in their World Group I play-off tie of Davis Cup, as they showed their brilliance in singles and doubles here at the grass courts of the Pakistan Sports Complex on Sunday.

The result exposed the host country’s inability to produce quality players over the last two decades, tha­n­ks to the lack of a pro­per player development system.

Having commanding 2-0 lead coming into the second day of the clash, the Indian pair of Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni eased past Pakistan’s pair of Aqeel Khan and Muzammil Murtaza in straight sets 6-2, 7-6, making their first tour to the country in 60 years even more remarkable.

Pakistan’s reliance on aging stars Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan — both 44 — for the last 20 years proved inadequate for the side to break a seven-tie losing streak against archrivals India.

The chances of victory had been reduced further when Aisam was ruled out of the clash following a hamstring injury.

In doubles, Pakistan had a good chance on tie break of winning the second set to push the match towards a decider, but the hosts missed the opportunity. They had no answers to speed and accuracy of Indian players as they faced difficulty in handling Myneni’s powerful serves.

The visitors played brilliantly, hardly allowing Aqeel Khan any freedom to demonstrate the best of his abilities while he missed long-time partner Aisam’s presence.

After winning the tie 3-0, India pitched Niki Poonacha against Mohammad Shoaib in the dead rubber but the latter too couldn’t pose any challenge before ending up getting beaten 6-3, 6-4.

The duo of Bhambri and Myneni said that defeating Pakistan on their favourite grass surface was not an easy task but it happened thanks to a well versed strategy.

“The Davis Cup tie is always considered a pressure game but we played well,” said Bhambri. Myn­eni added India planned to hold serves and that it worked.

Indian non playing captain Zeeshan Ali said that his players played brilliantly, adding that for this tour his side had no services of the country’s top three singles players and even then his team won 4-0 as all players played brilliantly. Indian coaches and players also felt that the tour made them experience Pakis­tani hospitality.

Meanwhile, in their post-match presser, Aqeel and Muzammil Murtaza said that they tried to win but the Indians were better. Aqeel, however, lamented lack of enough international matches for Pakistani players. He said that Pakistan will have to believe in younger players.

“Indian players regularly take part in ITF tours and other international events,” he added. “But here Pakistani players most of the time play national level tournaments.”

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2024