India vs Pakistan, Davis Cup: AITA Names Five-Member Squad For Play-Off Tie

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Ramkumar Ramanathan on Sunday (December 17) was named the captain of the five-member squad for their Davis Cup World Group I play-off tie against Pakistan. The other members of the team are N Sriram Balaji, Yuki Bhambri, Niki Poonacha, and Saketh Myneni.

Digvijay Pratap Singh, who made his Davis Cup debut in September against Morocco last year, has been named the reserve. While the Davis Cup tie is scheduled on February 3-4, it's pending an appeal by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) against traveling to Pakistan over security concerns to the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

If cleared by the tribunal panel, India will play in Pakistan for the first time in 60 years with the tie slated on a grass court. Indian tennis team last visited Pakistan for the first time in 1964, they defeated their neighbours 4-0. In eight ties, India and Pakistan have never lost against each other in the Davis Cup competition.

The only singles players on the team are Ramkumar and the 2019 national winner Nikki Poonacha; the other three members currently only participate in ATP Tour doubles matches. If Bhambri is asked to play the singles by captain Rohit Rajpal, it won't come as a surprise. You can also ask Balaji to perform a single.

The winner of the tie will guarantee their place in World Group I for the remainder of the 2024 season. Top players from India, Sumit Nagal and Sasikumar Mukund, have withdrawn from the match. India had requested ITF to relocate the tie to a neutral venue but the ITF Davis Cup Committee had rejected the appeal.

"We have appealed against the Davis Cup committee decision and a final call will be taken by the ITF tribunal on December 19. If the tribunal also rejects the appeal we will then travel to Pakistan," AITA Secretary General Anil Dhupar told PTI.

Dhupar further added that the government is likely to grant the Indian team to travel to Pakistan for the Davis Cup tie as the tournament is the World Cup of tennis while explaining why the team needs to be decided irrespective of the venue.

"Only one month is left for the tie and the selected players need to know the schedule so that they can plan their ATP engagements, that's why we have announced the team. Whether we are asked by ITF to travel to Pakistan or we go to a neutral venue is a different matter, the team had to be picked."

This is not the first time a similar request to change neutral venue is put forward by AITA as India was drawn to play Pakistan in Pakistan in 2019 as well, but on AITA's request, the ITF shifted the match to Kazakhstan, where India won the tie 4-0.

The top Pakistan players then withdrew from the tie to express their disapproval of AITA's choice to skip their nation. Pakistan's inexperienced players couldn't compete with India's talented squad. If the ITF chooses to move the match to a neutral location once more, the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) has already said that it will not field a team.