Davis Cup: India prepare for Pakistan tie in biting cold with hunt on for second singles player

New Delhi: Braving cold conditions, the Indian Davis Cup team began its preparatory camp for the upcoming grass court tie against Pakistan, keen to find a second singles player in the absence of top-ranked Indian Sumit Nagal. Country’s top singles players — Nagal (ranked 137) and Sasikumar Mukund (ranked 463) — have 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 has to choose between Yuki Bhambri and N Sriram Balaji to play the second singles. Bhambri, at 61 in the ATP doubles list, is the team’s highest ranked player and will certainly play the doubles rubber as well. Veteran Rohan Bopanna, who is India’s best doubles player, has retired from Davis Cup. Niki Poonacha is also an option but he is ranked as low as 783 and the team may not field him in singles. Both Bhambri and Balaji took a day off since they travelled straight from Melbourne after competing in the Australian Open. Ramkumar, Poonacha and Saketh Myneni had a light session that lasted two and a half hours. They had two hitting partners — Udit Kamboj and Maan Kesarwani — from the National Tennis Centre (NTC) to help them warm up. “They are all coming from tournaments. The idea is to get warmed up nicely. Grass courts require a different type of momentum. Lot of running, short sprints to the net, serve and volley. The tempo will build up as we go along,” Rajpal told PTI. “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,” he said when asked about possible combinations. “Pakistan have beaten good teams on grass so we have to prepare well and not take anything for granted. They know how to put pressure on grass, how to come in (charge net), we need try to and get used to that. We are planning our preparations accordingly, lot of drills are based on that,” he added. Coach Zeeshan Ali said getting used to the surface is a challenge. “The balls stay low on grass and courts are quicker and unpredictable. Where the ball will and how much the ball bounces, is difficult to predict. “These guys do not get to play on grass. Acclimatising to surface is key and that’s why this camp has been organised. The strokes remain the same but it is movement which is crucial on grass,” said Zeeshan.