Full strength team for Davis Cup

After missing out on top players for the last two ties,India is back with a full strength Davis Cup team for the home tie in Bangalore against Indonesia.

The All India Selection Committee on Saturday announced Leander Paes World no. 8 in doubles,Somdev Devvarman 354,singles,Yuki Bhambri 257,singles and Sanam Singh 297,singles as the four playing members who will represent the team during the April 5-7 clash.

The selectors said that Devvarman and Bhambri selected themselves while Sanam made the team on the back of his victory over Indonesian number one Christopher Rungkat last week. N Sriram Balaji,who is the next best ranked player after Sanam,and Vijayant Malik,who had played the singles rubbers against South Korea this month,have been named the reserve players. Vishnu Vardhan was also considered but there were doubts over his fitness and he has not played any matches this year.

In order to groom juniors with the national team,AITA has picked two additional players,Ramkumar Ramanathan and Arjun Kadhe,both 19,who will train with the side.

The federation8217;s reason for not considering Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna is that they did not require more than one doubles specialist for the second day8217;s rubber and Paes,on the basis of his ranking,selects himself.

End of Bhupathis India career?

Bhupathi had last represented India in September 2011 in Japan. Since then he was dropped against Uzbekistan last April and not considered for the New Zealand tie on basis of disciplinary grounds. Though the selectors have kept him away from this squad in order to build a young team for the future,the decision could put an end to the veteran8217;s India career,who is likely to hang his boots at the end of this year.

AITA assert that there is no bad blood between Bhupathi and the federation because of the decision. 8220;He has even agreed to be present in Bangalore during the tie to collect the ITF honour for his long-standing service,8221; Hiranmoy Chatterjee,AITA CEO,said.

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Though the AITA has retained SP Misra as the non-playing captain against Indonesia,they have clarified that this will be the Hyderabadi8217;s last tie with the team.

8220;With the on-going developments,SP Misra had requested to be relieved of his duties. But this was almost a back-to-back tie so we didn8217;t want to break the continuity and teams rhythm. The next tie will be in 2014. We have enough time to find a replacement,8221; said Bharat Oza,AITA secretary general. While Misra makes an exit,Vece Paes is being brought back in the Davis Cup fold after he was removed as team doctor in January after players demanded an overhauling in support staff. The senior Paes will be behind the selection of a specialised physio for the team.