CHENNAI: The Asia-Oceania Davis Cup Group I tie between India and Pakistan will be played at a neutral venue. After an inspection carried out by the International Tennis Federation’s independent security advisors, the world body has decided to shift the tie, to be played on November 29-30, from Islamabad. An ITF press release late on Monday night confirmed the same.
“(...) the Davis Cup committee has taken the decision that the Davis Cup tie between Pakistan and India must be played at a neutral venue. The ITF and Davis Cup Committee’s first priority has always been the safety of athletes, officials and spectators and the decision was made on this basis,” the release said.
“As per the regulations, the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) now has the choice to nominate a neutral venue and has five working days to confirm their proposed venue.”
The ITF’s move to shift the Davis Cup encounter is a vindication for the All India Tennis Association (AITA) who had maintained that they cannot possibly play in Pakistan in the current climate.
This announcement, however, may not mean that the likes of Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan will now make the trip.
It’s reliably learned that the AITA, as things stand, will most likely form a team from the group of players who made themselves available for selection to go to Pakistan. This issue came up for discussion during the body’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Chandigarh on Monday. It needs to be seen how AITA will react if Mahesh Bhupathi or other players, who refused to go to Pakistan, insist on going.
While the selection meeting to finalise the squad will take place in a day or two, there is an outside chance that Leander Paes, who last played in the Davis Cup in April 2018, may team up with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan. It’s also learned that Sri Lanka could host the tie because of higher costs involved in the staging the contest in one of the Gulf states.
The real challenge, however, is to pick the singles players and reserves from the available pool — Saketh Myneni, Arjun Kadhe, N Vijay Sundar Prashanth, Siddharth Rawat and so on.
“We haven’t decided anything yet with respect to picking the squad for the tie,” newly appointed captain Rohit Rajpal, said. “We will meet in the next day or two to pick the team.” Rajpal as the captain could be a stop-gap arrangement just for this tie but he didn’t want to go into specifics when asked about the same. “That’s something you need to ask the executive council,” he said.
The tie was originally supposed to be held in the second week of September but AITA had successfully lobbied to indefinitely postpone the two-day affair after there was uncertainty in the region following political developments in Jammu & Kashmir. The winner of this tie will figure in the World Group playoffs early next year.