I was surprised by my exclusion: Bopanna

TASHKENT: Rohan Bopanna says he was surprised at being dropped from India's Davis Cup world group play-off tie in Romania.    

Bopanna failed to find a place in the four memeber squad as he was replaced by 23 year-old Somdev Devvarman who had made his Davis Cup debut in India's first Asia Oceania tie against Uzbekistan. 

“I was surprised at not being on the Davis Cup team . Normally, we have five players traveling in a Davis Cup team for the away tie , but for the Budapest tie only four players were sent , " Bopanna who is currently playing in Tashkent challenger said.

"I've been in the team from 2002 and also have played singles. All this while “I was told I was dropped because my performance was not good enough in the singles for a place in the squad", he added.

Bopanna, who was among the players who rebelled against the captaincy of  Leander Paes, said :  "We had some differences in April, but I guess the issues we raised have been sorted out. We need to have a high team morale and good camaraderie amongst team members, which was missing."

"Now that we are back to Group I , we have to keep fighting to get back into the World Group."