Internet Desk: India’s non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi took a bold decision while naming the Davis Cup squad for the Uzbekistan tie next month. Senior pros. Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna finds their names in reserves for the tie.
The singles rankings has been given a priority as Ramkumar Ramanathan (ranked 269), Yuki Bhambri (307), Prajnesh Gunneswaran (325) and N Sriram Balaji (350) make the squad for the tie scheduled from April 7 to 9 in Bengaluru.
It was a surprising announcement as all the four players named in the squad are single specialists. Doubles, which has always been considered India’s strength, will definitely be weakened by the absence of Bopanna and Leander as they have both been a formidable player not only in Davis Cup.
Bhupathi had said that he has the option of having only singles players in the team and as of now he has exercised his right to have the team of his choice.
However, things can turn out to be different since rules permit for a change of two members before the tie begins. A press release by AITA stated that the team was chosen by the selection committee in consultation with the captain and that a seventh member was also added in Vishnu Vardhan for practice.
Bhupathi had said the performance of the players will be kept in mind before deciding the final four and he claims to have done exactly that.
“I have been tracking them. I need to reward results,” Bhupathi told PTI when asked about the thought behind selecting four singles players.
The captain, though, admitted that he can bring in either Paes or Bopanna if required.
“If needed, yes,” was his terse reply when asked about the possibility of playing one of the two doubles reserves.
Bopanna and Paes endured disappointing results after the announcement of the six-member squad. Both lost in the opening round of the Indian Wells Masters event and crashed out of the first round in the following Challenger event in Irving, US.
Paes is on the cusp of a Davis Cup world record and it will probably be his last chance to get it on home turf. He is tied on 42 doubles wins with Italy’s Nicola Pietrangeli and one more victory will make him the most successful doubles player in the Davis Cup history. He missed out on the coveted record when he lost the doubles rubber of the New Zealand tie alongside Vishnu.