The India Davis Cup team braved the chill to begin their preparatory camp for the upcoming grass-court tie against Pakistan, keen to find a second singles player in the absence of top-ranked Sumit Nagal.
Nagal (ranked 137) and Sasikumar Mukund (ranked 463), India's top singles players, have both pulled out of the February 3-4 tie in Islamabad. Their absence means that Ramkumar Ramanathan is the only singles specialist player in the team.
Captain Rohit Rajpal now has to choose between Yuki Bhambri and N. Sriram Balaji to play the second singles.
Bhambri, at 61 on the ATP doubles list, is the team’s highest ranked player now and will certainly play the doubles rubber as well. Both Bhambri and Balaji took a day off since they travelled straight from Melbourne after competing in the Australian Open.
“They are all coming from tournaments. The idea is to get warmed up nicely... We will make a decision on our second singles players in a couple of days. I have to see the players, how they play on grass,” Rajpal said.
