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Tennis

Davis Cup India vs Norway: All you need to know — Preview, Squad, Where to watch

Ramkumar Ramanathan and Yuki Bhambri-led India will face off against World No. 2 Casper Ruud's Norway in the Davis Cup Group I tie on 16th-17th September. All details here!

Ramkumar Ramanathan in action at the Davis Cup
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Ramkumar Ramanathan in action at the Davis Cup (Source: Chenthil Mohan)

By

The Bridge Desk

Updated: 15 Sep 2022 3:37 PM GMT

Davis Cup action is back with India taking on Norway in the Group I tie on 16th and 17th September 2022 at Håkons Hall in Lillehammer. Moreover, this will be the first time that India will be meeting Norway in the Davis Cup and for that, India has readied a strong team to counter Norway.

Although Rohan Bopanna's last-minute withdrawal from the Indian Davis Cup squad due to an injury comes as a severe blow to the team, the Indian squad will look for a confident start with Ramkumar Ramanathan, Yuki Bhambri and Sumit Nagal leading them. However, Norway is no easy opponent team either, especially with US Open finalist and reigning World No. 2 Casper Ruud leading their side.

The first day of the tie will see two singles matches being contested followed by a doubles and two more singles rubbers being played on the next day - leading to five matches being played to decide the winner of the Davis Cup Group I tie.

The matches will be played on an indoor hard court at Håkons Hall in Lillehammer, which also served as the venue for the ice hockey event at the 1994 Winter Olympics. This is the first time that the venue will be hosting a Davis Cup tie and to do that, an artificial court has been laid over a wooden surface, leading to a slow and low-bounce situation.

For India, the biggest threat lies in double Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud, who is in red-hot form currently. The other members of the Norway team may not be so strong and India stands a good chance against them, but it will be Ruud who can play spoiler to India's intentions.

On paper, India enjoys a higher-ranked position than the Norway side with Ramkumar Ramanathan (274), Prajnesh Gunneswaran (335), Sumit Nagal (483) and Sasikumar Mukund (416) taking charge of singles while Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni (coming in as a replacement for Bopanna) will contest the doubles.

For Norway, after Casper Ruud, the next-best player is Viktor Durasovic, who is ranked World No. 325, making the playing field level for the challenge against India too.

With each match being a best-of-three sets affair, India will look to make the most of the doubles and two singles, at least, provided they lose two more of the singles to Casper Ruud, to get the tie in their favour against Norway.

India had won their last Davis Cup tie against Denmark, winning 4-0, when it was held in New Delhi, earlier this year.

Schedule for Davis Cup India vs Norway

The India vs Norway tie will be held on 16th-17th September 2022 at Håkons Hall in Lillehammer.

16th September - 2 singles

17th September - 1 doubles, 2 reverse singles

Squads:

India: Rohit Rajpal (non-playing captain), Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Sumit Nagal, Yuki Bhambri, Saketh Myneni, Mukund Sasikumar

Norway: Anders Haseth (non-playing captain), Casper Ruud, Viktor Durasovic, Lukas Hellum Lilleengen, Herman Hoeyeraal, Simen Sunde Bratholm

Where to watch Davis Cup India vs Norway?

The official live streaming platform for Davis Cup India vs Norway tie is Eurosport.

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