India may have lost the Davis Cup tie 1-4 against Uzbekistan but the biggest gain from the trip seems to have been team bonding.

And what was the effect of Mahesh Bhupathi not being around? As a team insider sarcastically said: “The coach never said anything, may be since Mahesh wasn’t there.” At the Doha Asian Games coach Nandan Bal had reportedly spread bad blood by talking out to the media, destroying team spirit.

If this is true, then it’s unfortunate that there can be peace within the team when only one of our senior pros is playing.

Karan Rastogi, who was part of the Doha squad, has always maintained that the off-court drama between the trio never affected the juniors, but the singles spearhead in Namangan did agree that it was a more positive atmosphere this time.

“The captain (Paes) and coaches (Nandan Bal and Sandeep Kirtane) were very encouraging. They never put any pressure on us because they knew we were making our debut and besides the away tie was never going to be easy. But then, it was a little disappointing to lose my reverse singles match after getting into a position to win. (Rastogi lost 6-7 (2-7), 5-7, 1-6 to Denis Istomin).

“Although Leander never put any pressure on us to win, he was obviously disappointed that I couldn’t pull off the reverse singles despite the chances,” the 20-year-old told The Indian Express from the Delhi airport before taking a connecting flight to Mumbai.

... contd.