Rohan Bopanna axed from Indian Davis cup team

New Delhi : In a surprise move, two-time Olympian Rohan Bopanna has been dropped from the Indian Davis Cup squad for the tie against New Zealand.

The AITA selection committee comprising S P Misra, Rohit Rajpal, Nandan Bal, Zeeshan Ali and secretary Hiranmoy Chatterjee decided in favour of veteran Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni.

While Bopanna’s world ranking is 28, Paes is currently 59 and Myneni is 210 in the ATP doubles ranking list.

India’s squad for New Zealand tie will witness Yuki Bhambri’s comeback with Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan being the other two.

Yuki’s comeback means that Sumit Nagal has also been axed from the squad. The fifth player in the squad is left handed Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who comes in very handy during practice with his booming serves.

Two youngsters Adil Kalyanpur and Nitin Kumar Sinha will get valuable exposure practising with the squad.

The selection committee also named a provisional squad for Fed Cup Asia/Oceania group 1 event that will take place in Astana in Kazakhstan from February 6.

Sania Mirza has been kept in the squad as of now. It also comprises Ankita Raina, Snehadevi Reddy, Karman Thandi, Riya Bhatia, Prarthana Thombare.