Elated by the performance of his young teammates on Friday, Indian team captain Leander Paes [Images] said they were in a driver's seat after the opening day and would look to wrap up the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I tie against China on Saturday.

"We are in the driver's seat now and would look to wrap things tomorrow," Paes said after India's march towards a commanding 2-0 lead was stalled by unseasonal rains.

Earlier, Harsh Mankad gave India a winning start as he packed off top ranked Chinese player Sun Peng 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 in the opening singles rubber.

Prakash Amritraj appeared close to double the lead as he took just 32 minutes to wrap up the first set against Wang Yu but three rain interruptions in the space of five games forced the umpires to call off the match for the day at 6-3, 2-3.

The remaining match would be played tomorrow and would be followed by the doubles rubber between Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] and Yu/Zhu Ben-Qiang.

Paes appreciated the performances of Harsh and Prakash and said they justified his faith in them.

After overnight rain delayed the start of the match and made the court slippery, Paes said he felt that the conditions would be a lot tougher for Harsh as he was predominantly a hard court player but the 25-year-old proved him wrong.

"Harsh raised his game by atleast 2-3 levels and this was heartning to see."

Paes sprung a surprise on Thursday when he opted out of the singles and fielded the two youngsters. It has been over a decade now that Paes had been playing on all three days if he was a part of the team.

The 31-year-old felt that both Prakash and Harsh were playing at the same level but the latter was more solid and that showed in the matches.

"Harsh is solid. Prakash is more explosive but has his ups and downs. He started well by winning the first set but remained unlucky in the second despite having his chances."

Harsh, playing at home for the first time, was very happy with the way he played and said he executed the team's game plan perfectly.

"I took a bit of time in the first set to settle down but once that happened I execute the plan very well," he said.

The 301-ranked Indian said he last played on grass in July 2004 but it did not affect him much as his opponent was very uncomfortable on the surface.

Asked whether the rain delay had any affect on him, Harsh said he was matured enough to handle such situations and never thought of rain during the match.

China's non playing captain Zhao Xie said the inexperience of his players on grass showed during the matches.

On the incomplete match, Yu said he began to find his rhythm in the second set and if he plays the same way tomorrow anything could happen.

• Complete tennis coverage
• All you want to know about Sania Mirza