A few months ago, the Russian Davis Cup team were part of an incredible sporting story during their World Group quarter-finals. Unfortunately, it happened to be the much-fancied former champions who came off the rough end as a team of little-known Israelis, underdogs by a mile, defeated them 4-1 to reach their first Davis Cup semi-finals.

The Indian squad, though, should be prepared for a much tougher time as they prepare to travel to Russia’s cold climes to take on the likes of Nikolay Davydenko (world ranking 8), Igor Andreev (43) and Mikhail Youzhny (51) in their first World Group tie since 1998.

Cup winners in 2002 and 2006, the Russians have a formidable record at home, being undefeated in their last 16 ties in a winning streak that stretches back to 1996.

Somdev Devvarman, who played a huge role in India’s progress to this stage by winning both his singles matches against South Africa at the weekend, emphasised the difficulty of playing the fourth seeds in an away clash.

“We have drawn an extremely tough team in the first round. It’s going to be a daunting task. But I feel in Davis Cup everyone has a chance and we will have to prepare really well to take on one of the giants of the competition. We will all have to play our best tennis if we have to beat the likes of Davydenko, Youzhny and Andreev in their own backyard,” said Devvarman, who is preparing for the qualifying rounds of next week’s Thailand Open in Bangkok.

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