Over the last week speculation has been rife that Prakash Amritraj was fit enough to play and that captain Leander Paes was wrong to keep his best singles player on the sidelines
Shrugs off ‘unprofessional’ tag to guide India to 3-2 win in a tense decider
NEW DELHI: Over the last week speculation has been rife that Prakash Amritraj was fit enough to play and that captain Leander Paes was wrong to keep his best singles player on the sidelines, no matter what ‘strategy’ he was touting.
By the end of Sunday, India had managed to pip Uzbekistan 3-2 largely on account of that very ‘strategy’ which looked to give our best singles players a shot at the weaker Uzbek link Farrukh Dustov.
Amritraj became the hero of the tie when he overcame a stuttering start to put it past Dustov 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Dustov obviously hates playing on grass and then his fragile mental make-up under pressure aided Amritraj’s cause.
That Amritraj constantly heckled him by storming the net sealed the issue. The fifth rubber had assumed significance only because Rohan Bopanna failed to put it across Denis Istomin despite a formidable start.
The 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1), 8-6 encounter saw Bofors’ serve lose its sting after being ahead two sets and 4-2 in the third. Istomin broke him twice in a row to claw back into the match and with the morning dampness gone and the ball sitting up, he then proceeded to dictate the match from the baseline.
Paes deserves credit for sticking to his belief that Dustov should be targeted and Amritraj kept fresh for the final rubber in case it got sticky. Amritraj had beaten Istomin easily the last time they played in the Davis Cup tie at Jaipur in 2005 but the way Bopanna struggled against the dogged Uzbek just goes to show how much Istomin has improved in the last two years.
It also kills the argument that regardless of who we face, the best singles player should play on the first day. It is apparent that those critical of Paes’ captaincy are not being entirely honest to their own tennis acumen.
In the post-match press conference, Amritraj dismissed the issue that he would perhaps have been better prepared for the fifth match had he played the doubles on Saturday, by saying that it just took a few games for him to get his bearings right.
It also appears that the bad blood between Paes and Amritraj may be a thing of the past. “I will always be grateful to Prakash for saying what he did before going in to play the final match. He said, ‘Lee, lets put the bulls*** of the past behind us. It’s just you and me together out here.’ The greatest gain from this week has been the team keeping its unity despite all that happened,” an emotional Paes later revealed. India next take on Japan. The tie will again give the team home court advantage.
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