Leander Paes out; Yuki Bhambri, Saketh Myneni return in India's Davis Cup Squad
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Veteran Leander Paes has been dropped from India's Davis Cup squad for the tie against Canada next month, whereas, Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni, along with Ramkumar Ramanathan and Rohan Bopanna have made it to the team. Mahesh Bhupathi will lead the Indian Davis Cup squad this time as well.
Top singles player Yuki Bhambri has returned to the Indian Davis Cup team together with Saketh Myneni. However, the competent Leander Paes has been chucked out from the squad for the tie against Canada next month.
Both Bhambri, who in recent times triumphed over world number 22 Gael Monfils, and Myneni were not able to be present in the Uzbekistan tie in Bengaluru as a result of their respective injuries. Other than Bhambri and Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Rohan Bopanna have been retained in the squad which is going to be captained by Mahesh Bhupathi.
The reserves slots were filled by Prajnesh Gunneswaran and N Sriram Balaji.
The 44-year-old Paes was incorporated in the six-man squad in April this year for the previous tie against Uzbekistan in Bengaluru. Nonetheless, he was included in the final four by the new captain Mahesh Bhupathi.
Paes felt saddened and humiliated and left the scene in the middle into the tie. His sudden disappearance made Bhupathi disclose the fact on Facebook that no assurance was given to Paes about a spot in the final four by him and that his sudden leaving was the final nail in the coffin.
As they are back on the ATP Tour, their places will be taken back in the side for the September 15-17 tie in Edmonton. Ramkumar Ramanathan, who formed a ripple by thrashing world number eight Dominic Thiem will be the other singles player in the team.
Bopanna is an obvious choice for the doubles rubber as he is the highest-ranked doubles player in the country.
On the other hand, Paes requires one more win to claim the world record for most Davis Cup wins in doubles. Currently, he is tied with Italian legend Nicola Pietrangeli on 42 wins.
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