Pakistan Davis Cup captain Rasheed Malik has said his team would start "love-one down" against India who boast of a demolition doubles team in Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.
Malik also said that although Pakistan were aware of their unimpressive track record against India in Davis Cup, his team would go all out for glory in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I second round play-off tie at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium from April 7 to 9.
"History is against us in this historic tie and frankly speaking we would be starting love-one down because of the champion Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati. But whenever and whichever sport you play against India, the motivation and zest for glory is there. We will be travelling to India with an aim to scale the mountain this time," Malik told PTI in an exclusive interview.
Pakistan team arrives in Mumbai on Monday, four days before the match to acclimatise and get used to the surface.
The Indian team is led by Paes, with Mahesh Bhupathi, Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna also in the ranks.
Unlike cricket, the traditional rivals have played just five times against each other with the last meeting being almost 33 years ago at Kuala Lumpur where India won 4-0, thanks to the legendary Vijay Amritraj and his brother Anand.
In the five meetings between the two countries so far, mostly played in the 1960s, India have emerged outright winners. So much has been the dominance and superiority of the Indians that Pakistan has managed to win only two matches while losing 20.
"This time also India will be the favourites -- not odds-on favourites but 60-40 favourites. India is an all-round team whereas we rely only on Aisamul Haq and Aqeel Khan in live matches. I am not bothered much about the crowd advantage the Indians have but grass is certainly a surface that would give them a huge advantage," Malik said.
"We start love-one down simply because we do not stand a chance against the pair of Leander and Bhupathi. They are Grand Slam winners and over the years have developed a team that is considered a two-man demolition squad."
Malik said he hoped Aisamul Haq would live up to expectations by winning both his singles matches while Aqeel Khan, who won the national championship in India in 2004, would also rise up to the occasion.
"For us, this is a four-match tie and in this background, we are hoping that Aisamul will win us both his singles matches and Aqeel would rise to the occasion and win one of his two matches. That's the idea and planning that can, of course, be changed an hour before the match," Malik said.
Malik said Aisamul, country's best player, has been playing Future tours events in Germany while the rest were training on the Lahore Grass Courts since March 13.
"Aisam has a good serve-and-volley game and has won us crunch matches in the past, be it on grass or hard courts.
"But Aqeel will need to raise his game and take the pressure. He has to produce good serves and his backhand winners have to click. I have followed the development of both the players and I am more impressed with Aqeel, although Aisam's track record has been outstanding," Malik said.
Malik, however, admitted that Pakistan's ploy of depending solely on Aisam and Aqeel would be taxing on the players.
"Since Aisam joined the camp only on March 29, I do not know in what shape he is. But I have reasons to believe that he is fit as he has been playing in Germany.
"The rest of the players have trained extremely hard and their legs appear to be strong and ready to face the eventuality of a five-match tie. There have been instances where Pakistan has been taken to full distance but of course, those oppositions and conditions were different," Malik said.
