Combining well and putting in a display of superb power play with deft placements, Paes and Bhupathi got the better of the British pair 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 7-6 (7-3) to narrow England's lead to 2-1 in the crucial Davis Cup match.``The win in the doubles might act as a potion for Leander and Bhupathi in tomorrow's crucial reverse singles,'' a jubiliant non-playing India captain, Jaideep Mukherjea told PTI.

His british counterpart John Lloyd said, ``the win today surely has fired up the Indians and we expect a tough and nervous opening singles tomorrow.''India's number one Paes takes on top British player Tim Henman in the first reverse singles and Bhupathi would have to battle the fancied Greg Rusedski, worldranked 11 in the final rubber.

After the visitors had lost both the singles yesterday, the doubles clash produced exhilarating tennis before a partisan sell out crowd.

Striking a good rhythm, Paes and Bhupathi broke the Britons in the sixth game of the opening set to take a 3-2 lead but the duo clawed back breaking Bhupathi's serve to draw level 3-3.

The games then went with serves and the tie-breaker was applied. Paes, initiating the tie breaker, came up with a good serve to make it 1-0 in India's favour. However, Henman came up with two sizzling aces to make it 2-1.

The Indians then rallied well on Bhupathi's serve with some good cross court placements to make it 3-2 and increased it to 4-2.

The crack doubles pair then raced to a 7-2 lead to clinch the first set in India's favour.

The second set saw the Indians at their meekest, with both repeatedly double faulting and netting returns as the home crowd started pitching loudly for Henman and Broad. To top a bad display, Paes and Bhupathirepeatedly ran into each others' way, clashing rackets in confusion.

Capitalising on the visitors lapses, the British pair broke them in the first and fourth games to take the set at 6-3 and draw parity at one-all after the second set.

In the decider, the games went with the serves till the 12th game when the Englishmen came within a whisker of clinching the duel.

The highly-rated Indians survived that and saved two more match points before Paes' powerful serve was netted by Broad to make it 6-6 to take the match into the tie-breaker.

Once Paes put India ahead 4-2, the Indian tightened the stranglehold before Bhupathi came up with a superb return of Henman's serve to signal India's victory.

Henman summed it up later saying, ``they brought off some great shots at the right time and I think they raised their game fractionally in both tie-breakers.''