Somdev, Yuki back in Indian team

Misra stays non-playing captain; Bhupathi, Bopanna ignored for Indonesia tie

Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri will be the two singles players for India’s forthcoming Davis Cup Asia Oceania relegation play-off tie against Indonesia in Bangalore from April 5-7.

The selection committee, which met here on Saturday, picked the team on expected lines. In the absence of injured Vishnu Vardhan, Sanam Singh was chosen in the four-member side, and is likely to pair up with India’s top ranked doubles player, Leander Paes.

Sriram Balaji and Vijayant Malik are among the two reserve players. Malik was the second singles player during the South Korea tie which was boycotted by the top players. To “encourage the juniors”, the selection committee has also invited recently-crowned national grasscourt champion Ramkumar Ramanathan and Arjun Kadhe to practice with the team.

Zeeshan Ali has been retained the coach of the team and SP Misra the non-playing captain. The players had demanded the replacement of Misra and were unhappy with the appointment of Zeeshan. However, All India Tennis Association (AITA) secretary-general Bharat Oza said it would be the last tie for Misra. The AITA earlier had named South Korea's tie to be Misra’s farewell assignment.

“People deduced it wrongly that South Korea tie would be his farewell. What we meant was that he should be honoured. Mr Misra had expressed his desire to be relieved in the previous tie only. But since we were having back-to-back ties, we requested him to continue. He, though, made it clear that the Indonesia tie will be his last. So, we agreed. We have not deliberated on a new captain,” Oza said.

The AITA, however, reiterated that the decision to select the coach, captain and support staff rests solely with it.

It was little surprise that Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna were sidelined for the tie. The AITA clarified they were looking for three singles players and a doubles specialist, which they have in world no. 8 Paes.

“Mahesh and Rohan are great players. But at the moment, we can do with Paes. All three singles players can pay doubles as well,” said Oza.

As for the Somdev and Yuki, their performances in the last few months speak for themselves.
Somdev, who missed nearly 10 months of action because of a shoulder injury to slip to the 354th place, has had a good run of form in the last couple of months and Yuki is the highest-ranked singles player at 257. Sanam recently beat Indonesia’s top player Christopher Rungkat in an ITF Futures event in Melbourne. He was also the 2010 Asian Games doubles gold medallist with Somdev.

Oza also said the three-member committee formed to deal with issues of players would continue to do its work. “If the players don’t want to talk to the committee, it’s fine. We can only request. The committee will also talk to the women’s players as they also represent the country.”

Oza admitted the need to have a new physiotherapist. The doctor during the South Korea tie was not up to the mark and Oza said they would be seeking the advice of Dr Vece Paes, who had been appointed as the medical advisor at AITA's Sports Science Centre. "We are seized of the matter. We will like someone experienced like Dr Paes to be behind the team and help select the physios, who understand tennis injuries," Oza said.