Leander Paes [Images], India's Davis Cup captain, said on Sunday that his team would start as clear favourites in their Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group I tie to be held in New Delhi from March 4 to 6.

"We are definitely favourites to win on grass. Prakash Amritraj's game is tailor made for grass, my record speaks for itself and even Harsh [Mankad] has a game which can be very useful on grass. So we are really the favourites," Paes said after the team's training session.

Paes was joined by Amritraj and reserve player Karan Rastogi [Images] in the morning while Mankad, who arrived in the capital on Sunday, opted to take a day off, and Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] is expected to begin training from Monday.

The Indian skipper, however, was quick to point out that they would need to be at their best despite the surface advantage against the stubborn Chinese.

"The Chinese are very resilient. They are very quick and never give up. So we will need to be at our best on the weekend."

Coach Nandan Bal also believed that India would have an upper hand over the Chinese given the fact that the matches would be played on grass.

"Most of the Chinese are baseline players and none of them really play the serve and volley game.

"I don't think most of them play on grass much. On the other hand, Leander and Mahesh [Bhupathi] have proved themselves on grass and Prakash's game is most suitable for the surface."

Bal said the Chinese had a tall lefthander Yu Wang Junior in their ranks and hence they have asked junior player Jeevan Nedunjezhiyan to come and train with them.

"We are basically looking at asking him to serve a lot to these players," he said.

The former national champion said Mankad, who arrived here this morning, opted to take rest on Sunday as he was really tired after a tough one month in the England [Images].

"He has played 27 matches in 25 days and it is very tiring. So he had a day off today and would be here from tomorrow."

Prakash was also very happy to be back playing the serve and volley game after a long time.

"I am happy to be on grass and playing the serve and volley game. You don't get a chance to play on grass," he said.

The son of the legendary Vijay Amritraj, Prakash, said he was looking forward to playing in front of a supporting crowd.

"Both my last ties were away ties. I like to play in front of a supporting crowd and I am looking forward to it here."

On his current form, Prakash said he did a lot of work in his off season and was feeling much stronger.

Meanwhile, the six-member Chinese contingent arrived in New Delhi on Sunday night.

The team began its training at the NSCI tennis courts from on Monday.

India and China have met twice in the Davis Cup so far with India emerging victorious on both occasions.

The winner of this weekend's tie would play the winner of the Indonesia and Uzbekistan match for a berth in the World Group playoffs.

Squads

India: Leander Paes (captain), Mahesh Bhupathi, Prakash Amritraj, Harsh Mankad, Karan Rastogi, Nandan Bal (coach).

China: Sun Peng, Wang Yu, Zhu Ben-Qiang, Lu Hao. Zhao Zie (coach), Sin Wen-Bing (Team leader).  

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