Captain Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna won the crucial doubles rubber to put India 2-1 ahead in the Davis Cup zonal relegation play-off against Kazakhstan in Almaty on Saturday.

Paes and Bopanna defeated Dmitry Makeyev and Alexey Kedriouk 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in the Asia-Oceania Group 1 tie on indoor hard courts at the Baganashil Sports Complex.

On Friday, Bopanna defeated Makeyev 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 while Karan Rastogi went down to Kedriouk 6-4, 6-4, 3-6 7-6 (2) in the singles matches.

The reverse singles will ve played on Sunday.

Bopanna was to take on Kedriouk in the first game followed by Rastogi against Makeyev.

India, who lost 4-1 to Uzbekistan in the first round tie in February, need to win the tie to stay in the group for next season.

The loser of this tie would be pushed to final round of relegation play-offs.