"I am very happy with the outcome. It was excellent performance and very professional. I am happy that they wrapped up the match in three sets."
NEW DELHI: India's non-playing captain Leander Paes Saturday termed the straight sets victory by Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna over Uzbek pair of Denis Istomin and Farrukh Dustov in the doubles match of the Asia-Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie as "thoroughly professional".
"I am very happy with the outcome. It was excellent performance and very professional. I am happy that they wrapped up the match in three sets," Paes said after the day's match at the R.K. Khanna Stadium here.
The 35-year-old veteran also said that with 2-1 up, the hosts were in excellent position and would try to consolidate on it.
Paes also justified his decision to field Bopanna in place of Prakash Amritraj, who was named earlier to partner Bhupathi, saying that it was part of strategy.
"They (Bopanna and Bhupathi) are the best choice considering their present form. Mahesh (Bhupathi) had performed exceedingly well at the Australian Open and Rohan (Bopanna) had a good outing at the Hopman Cup. It was a tactical move to replace Prakash with Rohan," he said.
The non-playing captain, who holds the best Davis Cup record for India, made it clear that Amritraj will be featuring in the tie for the first time in the reverse singles Sunday.
"Right now Prakash is 100 percent fit and in great shape for tomorrow's (Sunday) match. He will get his share of opportunity tomorrow. I believe in all my boys.
"The reason I rested Prakash yesterday (Friday) was to give him an extra day to recover," said Paes.
He also said that he is depending on Bopanna to give India an unassailable 3-1 lead Sunday.
Bopanna seemed delighted to be spearheading India's challenge and expressed happiness over the part he played in the last two days.
"I am in good shape and will be hoping to close the tie tomorrow morning," he said.
Though the Uzbeks are unhappy with the result of the doubles' rubber, top Uzbek player Denis Istomin said Saturday's match provided him a great opportunity to study Bopanna's game going into Sunday's match.
"Rohan had a good match yesterday. I have watched his game very carefully today. So I will do some homework for tomorrow's match," said Istomin.
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