Two-time Olympian Rohan Bopanna was dropped from India’s Davis Cup squad which will face New Zealand in February 2017.
The All India Tennis Association committee said the decision was made to accommodate a “third singles player”.
SP Misra, Rohit Rajpal, Nandan Bal, Zeeshan Ali and secretary Hiranmoy Chatterjee, who were a part of AITA selection panel, have preferred 43-year-old Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni as the team’s doubles pair.
Paes and Bopanna’s poor record while playing together was also cited as a reason by the committee to bank on the former to team up with Myneni, ranked 210 in the doubles circuit.
Bopanna is ranked 28th. “Picking Rohan blocks a place for a third singles player that we wanted to have in the squad. Also Leander and Saketh were brilliant against Spain. But whenever Leander and Rohan have played together, they have not done well. Take Czech Republic tie as an example,” selector Misra was quoted as saying by PTI.
The other members of the five-member squad to face New Zealand comprises of comeback man Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan, and the left-handed Prajnesh Gunneshwaran. This also means that former Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medalist Somdev Devvarman misses out.
Misra reasoned lack of practice for the 31-year-old’s omission, “He has not played any tournament for a long time. First he has to make a comeback to the competitive tennis and then deliver results,” Misra said.
Bopanna had announced his availability for the New Zealand tie. However, the selection committee did not shut the doors on the 36-year-old, “Look we don’t know how long Leander [Paes] will be playing. Rohan is much younger and he can always make a comeback,” Misra added.
Earlier on Thursday, AITA had named veteran Mahesh Bhupathi as non-playing captain of India’s Davis Cup side, replacing Anand Amritraj following their clash against New Zealand.
The committee also announced a provisional squad for Asia-Oceania group 1 event for the Federation Cup, which will take place in Kazakhstan starting February 6. Doubles world No.1 Sania Mirza was pooled along with Ankita Raina, Snehadevi Reddy, Karman Thandi, Riya Bhatia and Prarthana Thombare in the roster.