Days after Leander Paes’ outburst for not being picked for the India versus Uzbekistan Asia Oceania Group I Round Two tie in Bengaluru, captain Mahesh Bhupathi sought to refute the allegations levelled at him.
Speaking to the media after the final day, Bhupathi all but shut the door too on Paes’ inclusion in the side for the World Group Playoff to be held in September.
“A day before the selection committee met I told him candidly that I was going to ask for six in the team,” said Bhupathi. “And that I would respect his decision if he decided not to come and if he wanted to wait till he was guaranteed a spot in the four.”
“He said that if he was in the six, he would be happy to come and that playing Davis Cup was priority. He deserves the respect after what he’s achieved for the country to be given the option to be in the six. We gave him the option and he readily took it. So after that, to sulk about not being in the four was a bit unprofessional. It was pretty unfortunate what happened especially when we had two debutantes in the team.”
Bhupathi denied Paes’ charge that the criteria for selection weren’t consistent. Paes was in particular peeved that he was denied a spot even after having won a Challenger event the week before whereas Rohan Bopanna had had three successive first-round defeats.
“There were five things in my criteria,” the 42-year-old said. “Obviously fitness was one but Leander was the only one who did not do the fitness test at the place I asked him to. So I don’t think he should be the one boasting about criteria.”
“He’s extremely proud of the fact that he won that Challenger in Leon. Rohan played Novak Djokovic (Indian Wells) and Nick Kyrgios (Miami). So it’s not a debate that I want to get into. My criteria is not one or two things, it’s five things and none of them were really met.”
Bhupathi also didn’t take kindly to the fact that Paes left after the first day of the tie.
“A six-man squad is to build the team. If you don’t make the team, it’s for so many different reasons. It’s not to be here till the team is announced and go. [It was] one of the many shocking things that have transpired this week.”
Reiterating his belief in having just one doubles player in the final four, Bhupathi said his choice would be Bopanna going forward.
“We don’t require a doubles specialist unless he is playing at a level that i think will make a difference to the tie. Now Rohan is the No. 1 doubles player in India by far. Unless something untoward happens from now till September, it’s going to be remain like that.”
Asked if there would be any disciplinary action against Paes, Bhupathi said it was not his job.
“I will put what happened in my report to the AITA as a captain. Hopefully this episode will never happen again as long as I am captain and hopefully a lot of us will learn from what happened.”
