2024-03-19 18:56:07
Islamabad: The Indian Davis Cup team completed a historic tour of the arch-rivals after 60 years by defeating Pakistan 4-0 with easy wins from Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni and a winning debut from Nicky Poonacha and secured a place in World Group I. Yuki and Saketh won the doubles match to give India a 3-0 winning lead in the play-offs. After taking a 2-0 lead on Saturday, Yuki and Saketh continued India’s dominance over Pakistan in the match by defeating the host team’s pair of Muzammil Mortaza and Akil Khan 6-2 7-6(5) on Sunday.
Pakistan fielded Aqeel in place of Barkat Ullah for the doubles match as they wanted an experienced player in this do-or-die match. Defeat in this match would have decided India’s victory. However, Yuki and Saket did not give any chance to the host pair and the difference between the two teams was clearly visible in this match. The Pakistani pair had a lot of trouble facing Saket’s service. He lost very few points on his serve and also performed brilliantly at the net.
The returns of the Indian players were also excellent and Yuki several times hit winners between the two Pakistani players. The 28-year-old Poonacha was then fielded to play the meaningless fourth match against Mohammad Shoaib, who he won 6-3, 6-4. After this the fifth match was not played. Shoaib was seen struggling with his serve, but his backhand was amazing. Realizing Shoaib’s strong side, Poonacha did not give him many balls for backhand and won easily. Shoaib could not control even his natural mistakes due to which the Indian player got a lot of free points.
This is India’s eighth win against Pakistan in eight matches in this competition known as the World Cup of Tennis. The Indian team will now take part in World Group One in September while Pakistan will remain in Group Two. The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) did a good job in creating a safety net around the players. Multiple agencies came together to ensure that this historic encounter was conducted without any untoward incident. Yuki and Saket maintained a strong hold on the match from the beginning. He took a strong lead of 4-1 by breaking Akil in the first and fifth games. In the first game, Akil gave two breakpoints to the Indian pair by hitting a backhand outside.
Saketh hit a shot outside on the first point, but then broke the serve with an easy volley winner on Akil’s weak return. In the fifth game the Pakistani legend lost his serve again. Her smash went over the baseline at 30-30 and Yuki sealed the game with a powerful forehand winner between the two opponents.
In the seventh game, Mortaza gave three set points to the Indian pair but the players of the host team saved all three points. After this, Yuki retained her service and won the first set for India. In the second set, Akil started saving his serve and took the match to the tiebreaker. The Pakistani pair started well and took a lead of 4-2 but Yuki and Saket made the score 5-5. India won the match and the encounter with Akil’s double fault on match point.