Mumbai: Leander Paes, suffering from severe cramps, defeated Pakistan's Aqeel Khan in the deciding reverse singles to pilot India to a 3-2 victory in the Asia-Oceania zone Group I play-off tie at Mumbai on Sunday.
Paes, the 33-year-old Indian captain, took a gamble and played the fifth rubber of the tie in place of his younger teammate Rohan Bopanna to carve out a memorable 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 0-6, 6-1 victory in three hours and 40 minutes at the Cricket Club of India lawns.
His victory helped India remain in Group One while Pakistan will play China in the relegation play-off in September.
The loser of that tie would be demoted to Group 2 next year.
Paes suffered a severe bout of cramps when the score was 1-1 in the third set and he looked severely restricted in his movements after receiving on-court medical attention.
He had clinched the first two sets comfortably with the help of a single break of service in the first and via the tie-break 7-4 after leading 4-0 in the second.
The Indian skipper lost the third set after being broken once in the fourth game by his rival and was mostly rooted to his spot in the fourth and tried to conserve his energy after falling 0-4 behind.
Paes gave away the last two games of the set, a wise move, in order to go all out against his rival in the fifth set which he did with aplomb and carved out his 47th singles victory in his Davis Cup career.
The veteran stormed his way in the deciding set with his passing shots and volleys to stun his younger rival into submission by breaking his opponent's serve twice - in the 2nd and 6th games - before serving out the set, the match and the tie when Khan hit a backhand return wide.
Paes, playing in Cup singles after a long gap, went down on his haunches even as his teammates rushed to congratulate him after the triumph.
Earlier, Qureshi fired in 21 aces against the hapless Amritraj to bring Pakistan level in the tie at 2-2.
Qureshi, too, took on-court medical attention for cramps but quelled a strong fight-back from his Indian rival, who committed as many as 12 double faults, to carve out a convincing 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory in two hours and 35 minutes.
Qureshi, who had beaten No. 2 Rohan Bopanna in three sets on the opening day, broke Amritraj's serve twice, in the third and firth games, to clinch the first set in 34 minutes.
He then broke his Amritraj's serve once in the third game to win the second set in 35 minutes and take a commanding 2-0 lead.
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