New Delhi: The All India Tennis Association (AITA) on Thursday picked up 6-member Indian team for the upcoming Davis Cup World Group Qualifying tie against Croatia slated to be played at Zagreb from March 6-7. Veteran Leander Paes made the cut once again after a stellar show against Pakistan in the Asia Oceania tie held at Kazakhstan, where the Indians blanked their sub continent rivals 5-0. Paes, who announced in January that he will be calling time on his 30-year professional career at the end of the 2020 season, is accompanied by fellow doubles veteran Rohan Bopanna in the team. Divij Sharan has been picked as the third doubles player. Paes earlier became the most successful doubles player in the history of Davis Cup when he won his 43rd match, surpassing Italian great Nicola Pietrangeli during the tie against China. The 46-year-old had taken 56 ties for his 43rd win while Pietrangeli competed in 66 ties for his 42 victories. All India Tennis Federation have made it clear that they have selected the squad based on the availability and performance of the players .
Following are the members of the squad for the tie against Croatia which is also a World Group qualifier and to be played on 6th and 7th March .
Rohit Rajpal ( Non Playing captain ), Prajnesh Gunneswaran , Sumit Nagal , Ramkumar Ramanathan , Rohan Bopanna, Leander Paes and Divij Sharan. Zeeshan Ali will continue to coach the team against Croatia.
The showpiece team event in tennis which witnesses the top nations competing hard to come out as the ultimate champions of World tennis ha undergone a change in its playing format from the last season. Twenty-four nations will go head-to-head in a bid to win one of 12 qualifying spots for the Davis Cup Finals. The 12 losing nations will compete in World Group I ties in September, 2020, while the winning nations will join the six nations who have already qualified for the Finals — the 2019 semifinalists Canada, Great Britain, Russia and Spain, and the 2020 wildcards, France and Serbia.
The new format of the Davis Cup will witness a newly formed World Group I and World Group II, in which the premier teams will compete on a worldwide basis rather then being clubbed on a continental basis, replacing the regional Group I and Group II. As a result, the Davis Cup Nations Ranking will no longer be in effect to consider which group a nation will be played in. Spain are the defending Davis Cup champions after they won the title for the sixth time beating Canada in the finals.