All eyes will be on veteran Leander Paes, who is the on the cusp of a historic world record in perhaps his last appearance in Davis Cup, as India clash with relatively weaker New Zealand in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie, here from Friday.
The 18-time Grand Slam champion, who is all set to take part in his 55th Davis Cup tie, is tied with Italy’s Nicola Pietrangeli on 42 doubles wins. A win on Saturday will make him the most successful doubles player ever in Davis Cup history.
Paes, however, will have to team up with last-minute inclusion and his London Olympics doubles partner Vishnu Vardhan, after original choice Saketh Myneni failed to recover from a foot injury sustained during last month’s Chennai Open.
“Myneni’s injury is not okay yet,” said Anand Amritraj, who is leading the side for one last time, at a press conference after the draw for the tie, which will be first in Pune after 43 years.
Paes and national hard court champion Vardhan will clash with the Kiwi pair of Artem Sitak and Michael Venus on day two of the tie.
Vardhan was given a call-up after three people spoke to India’s top doubles player Rohan Bopanna, team captain Anand Amritraj said at the media conference after the draw.
“Three people spoke to him. I did not. I don’t know exactly what happened,” said Amritraj.
Paes, asked on the subject, said he wanted to give a call to Bopanna yesterday but was stopped from doing so.
“I was the first to suggest of making a call to Rohan but I was told not to make the call,” said Paes who partnered Bopanna at the Rio Games but crashed out in the first round.
He, however, refused to divulge who prevented him from doing so.
On paper, due to higher rankings and the advantage of playing at home, India appear to hold a clear edge over the Kiwis against whom they have a 5-3 win-loss record, with all the defeats occurring in the 1970s.
India have not lost to New Zealand since 1978 when the Kiwis, then spearheaded by Onny Parun, had beaten them 4-1 in New Delhi in the Eastern Zone semi final.
But they can ill afford to take New Zealand lightly especially considering that the visitors had proved a tough nut to crack in their own backyard in Christchurch in July, 2015, in the Asia-Oceania Group I semi-final, which team captain Anand Amritraj conceded had happened.
“Their doubles team is stronger but we cannot take their singles players light. When we met the last time we did that and we were down 1-2,” recalled Amritraj.
Paes did not take part in that tie and also missed India’s earlier 5-0 clean sweep over New Zealand in Chandigarh in 2012.
But his was the big presence in the previous three victories over New Zealand in 2004, 2003 and 2002 when he played in singles and doubles (with Mahesh Bhupathi).
“I am always ready to wear the saffron and green flag. We all in fact love to do so. We play as a team.”