Business as usual -- Onus on Leander

Business as usual -- Onus on Leander
Srinivasa Raghavan

Chennai, April 3: Leander Paes will have to bear the brunt of the Indian attack once again to see them through in a tough away Asia-Oceania Group I (second round) Davis Cup encounter against Japan from April 6 to 8 at Tokyo. A victory against Japan will earn a berth for Indians in the play-off against one of the first round losers of Davis Cup 2001. India have a 100 per cent Davis Cup record against Japan.

Paes had earlier played the key role in India’s victory over China under freezing conditions in the first round at Li Fang. The support cast will be Mahesh Bhupathi, Syed Fazaluddin and Harsh Mankad. Harsh replaces Prahlad Srinath for this tie. India’s non playing captain Ramesh Krishnan said he was being ‘‘cautiously optimistic’’ about India’s chances. He shared some of his views with the NIE before flying to Japan.

As most of the Japanese are ranked better than Indians, Ramesh felt Leander is well equipped to tackle the higher ranked Japanese. He said: ‘‘Japan and India have been traditional rivals. We have not been playing that often recently. India is yet to lose to Japan in Davis Cup. Though their players are ranked higher, in Leander, we have a player capable of handling them.’’

Will the conditions be as tough as it was in China? Ramesh, who has experienced the Japanese conditions as a professional, said Indians should be comfortable since Japanese are known for their meticulousness and organising ability. ‘‘We are playing indoors in Japan in a State of the Art stadium with a retractable roof. Japan has had a lot of experience conducting tennis events. I expect our players to be comfortable there. The surface, Decoturf should be to their liking,’’ felt Ramesh.

Japanese team will consist of Takao Suzuki, Goichi Motomura, Thomas Shimada and Yaoki Ishii. The players to watch according to Ramesh are Suzuki and Motomura. On the composition of Indian team in singles, Ramesh said it was not fair at this time to comment on the line-up for singles. ‘‘We will have to wait till we get there,’’ said Ramesh.