Davis Cup: India announce team for World Group Qualifiers against Croatia

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) announced a six-member Davis Cup squad for the World Group Qualifiers against Croatia that will be held on March 6, 2020 and March 7, 2020 at Zagreb.

Rohit Rajpal will once again be the non-playing captain of the side, after he had been appointed for the role ahead of the clash against Pakistan in November last year.

While Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan will spearhead the single's challenge, the doubles will see Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes take the field. However, with Divij Sharan selected in the Davis Cup team as well, the selectors have made their intent clear that Paes is not being as the numero uno doubles player in the country any more.

Bopanna and Sharan played together for most parts of 2019, but split up for the Australian Open to play with different partners in a bid to improve their doubles ATP rankings. While the Bangalore-based Bopanna will fall down to 45 from 41 in the ATP rankings that will be released next week, Sharan will dip down to 65 after the two were unable to set the Tata Open 2020 in Pune on fire, where they played with different partners. Paes is ranked out of the top-100 currently, and his only chance for a shot at the Tokyo 2020 Games will be if either Bopanna or Sharan qualify for the Summer Games and then pair with him.

A total of 32 teams qualify for the doubles event at the Olympics, with ten places being reserved for the players in the top 10 of the rankings. They can, then, partner with any player from their country ranked in the top 300.

Bopanna, though, had mentioned that he would prefer partnering Sharan in Tokyo, which is what makes the Indian Davis Cup selection today interesting. Paes, despite being on the wrong side of 40, has plenty of experience, and should take the field against Croatia. If Bopanna and Paes manage to outwit the Croats, they will emerge as the top pair to make the cut for the Olympics.

However, Bopanna's feud with Paes is well known, and whether the former will want to pair up with him in what will be the last Olympic Games for both players will need to be seen.