India take 2-0 lead against Pakistan in Davis Cup

KARACHI: India took 2-0 lead against Pakistan on the first day of their Davis Cup Group I, Asia/Oceania (1st round) tie in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan, on Friday.

India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal won the opening singles matches. Ramanathan gave India a perfect start with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Pakistan’s teenage player-captain M Shoaib in 42 minutes.

Nagal beat Huzaifa Abdul Rehman 6-0, 6-2 to put Rohit Rajpal’s team in charge. The winners will qualify for the 2020 Davis Cup by Rakuten Qualifiers in March, where they will travel to face 2018 champions Croatia.

The losing side will take on Slovakia in the 2020 Davis Cup World Group I Play-offs. It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan fielded junior players against India in protest against the shifting of the tie from Pakistan.

Pakistan’s top players Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan pulled out of the tie when the ITF decided the case in India’s favour. The senior players of the national team decided not to play the tie against India at a neutral venue to protest against the unfair behaviour of India who avoided coming to Islamabad.

Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) while respecting the stand of the senior players directed the PTF Executive Committee to nominate three best juniors for the tie. On the recommendations of PTF’s executive committee, Huzaifa, Shoaib, and Yousaf Khan Khalil were selected to represent Pakistan in the tie. Pakistan retain the choice of home tie for the next time the two countries play one another.