Paes named in playing squad for Croatia tie, Divij reserve player
New Delhi, February 25
The AITA selection committee today decided to keep veteran Leander Paes in the five-member playing squad for the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Croatia, making Divij Sharan the reserve member.
The All India Tennis Association (AITA) had to send its final squad to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) by today. The national federation had initially announced a six-member squad for the tie, scheduled to be held in Zagreb on hard courts on March 6-7.
Croatia is the top-seeded team in the 24-team qualifiers. The 12 winners will qualify for the year-end Davis Cup Finals while the losing sides will be placed in the World Group I. Sumit Nagal, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar Ramanathan are the singles players in the squad, while Paes and Rohan Bopanna will do the doubles duty.
Bopanna had skipped the last tie against Pakistan citing an injury, while Sharan was busy with his wedding reception at that time. Paes and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan had played in that tie, held in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan.
“We have kept our options open. Coach Zeeshan (Ali) and I will try all the combinations. Divij remains in the mix,” non-playing captain Rohit Rajpal said. It will be only the second time that India and Croatia will clash in Davis Cup. The last time the two teams met, India won 3-2 in New Delhi in 1995. — PTI
