India routed Pakistan to reach the 2020 Davis Cup Qualifiers and will be gunning for their first spot in the Finals.
The Group I Asia/Oceania Davis Cup tie between India and Pakistan had been shifted to a neutral country because of the political tensions between the two countries. Most of the leading players from Pakistan opted not to travel to Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan where the tie was held and India took full toll of that call to crush their opponents.
India’s qualification came after Leander Paes and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan brushed Huzaifa Abdul Rehman and Muhammad Shoaib aside in a 6-1, 6-3 win in the third rubber of the tie.
Also Read:
Earlier, Ramkumar Ramanathan sent 17-year-old Muhammad Shoaib packing, double-bagelling him in their opening tie which lasted a mere 42 minutes. This was followed by Sumit Nagal dropping just two games in his victory over Huzaiha Abdul Rehman to take India up to 2-0 in 64 minutes.
India had to feature in this playoffs with Pakistan after going down 3-1 to Italy in February in Kolkata. Italy, therefore, had gone on to qualify for the Davis Cu Finals.
As a result of this win over Pakistan, India joined 23 other countries in the Qualifiers and will now play Croatia on March 6-7 to try and make it to the main draw of the year-ending event.
India captain Rohit Rajpal spoke about India’s chances in their next match and he said they are hungry for the Croatian challenge.
Rajpal said:
“You don’t win Davis Cup unless you’re a strong team so it’s a challenge for us, but the way the boys are going, and I’ve seen the energy of the boys, it’s not going to be easy to welcome us for any team in the world.”
Six teams Spain, Great Britain, Russia, Canada, France and Serbia have already qualified for the Davis Cup Finals and they will be joined by the winners of the 12 Qualifiers which will be played in March.
Be the first to comment