Davis Cup: India take 2-0 lead against Pakistan

Bengaluru, November 30: India powered to a 2-0 lead in their Davis Cup tie for the loss of just two games as Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal toyed with their teen rivals from Pakistan in Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan).

In a mismatch of epic proportion, Ramkumar double-bageled 17-year-old Muhammed Shoaib in just 42 minutes in the opening singles.

The only time Shoaib made it look like a match was in the sixth game of the second set when he stretched Ramkumar to two deuce points.

Sumit Nagal then earned his first-ever Davis Cup win, beating Hufaiza Mohammed Rehman 6-0, 6-2 in the second singles which lasted 64 minutes.

India 🇮🇳 have established a commanding position after the first day of play in Nur-Sultan👀

Full report ⬇️https://t.co/Dpzv8CBC5r #DavisCup #PAKIND pic.twitter.com/tR9KKYUWG3
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) November 29, 2019

Pakistan badly missed its top players who pulled out, protesting against shifting of the matches to a neutral venue.

While the first match was not even a contest, promising Pakistani youngster Hufaiza resisted Nagal as much as possible by engaging the Indian in long rallies.

Twice he pushed Nagal to deuce points in the second game of the second set and finally put Pakistan on board by holding the third game after squandering four game points.

He returned and dished out another hold, staying close to Nagal.

However, it just delayed the inevitable as Nagal wrapped up the match in the eighth game.

Veteran Leander Paes and debutant Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan will now look to seal the tie when they clash with Hufaiza and Shoaib in the doubles rubber on Saturday.

What a start to our @DavisCup tie against Pakistan. Top performances by @ramkumar1994 and @nagalsumit today to give us a 2-0 lead. Can’t wait to get on court tomorrow with @JeevanN2010🎾Thank you to everyone who came out to support 🇮🇳 @ITF_Tennis #DavisCup #IndvsPak pic.twitter.com/zp9qADwSJ2
— Leander Paes (@Leander) November 29, 2019