Doubles ace Mahesh Bhupathi says the Indian team will give its best when it takes on the Netherlands in the Davis Cup World Group qualifying tie in Zwolle from Friday.
"We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We will give it our best shot," said Bhupathi, who is the senior-most member in the Indian team in the absence of star player Leander Paes, who is recovering from a brain cyst.
"The Dutch team is superior but the Davis Cup brings out the best in us," said Bhupathi, who led India to a remarkable 3-2 victory over the Dutch when the teams last met in 1996 in Jaipur in a World Group first round tie.
United States-born Prakash Amritraj (ranked 324) comes in to replace Paes in the team that includes Rohan Bopanna (344) and Harsh Mankad (369).
Prakash, son of former Davis Cupper Vijay Amritraj and a US-citizen, became eligible to play for India this April, and the play-off against Holland will be his first ever Davis Cup match.
Bopanna made his India debut early this year in the Group 1 first round match against Japan while Mankad has been part of the Davis Cup for the past two years.
Non-playing captain Ramesh Krishnan is having a tough time on deciding who among the three youngsters to play. He will also have to decide on who will partner Bhupathi in the doubles rubber.
The draw of matches will be made tomorrow.
"The Dutch are a high quality team but at the same time the Davis Cup is an important event for us," said Krishnan, whose team has failed to go beyond the play-off stage in the past three years.
India hold a 2-1 head-to-head advantage over the Dutch, but one of the their victories came on grass at home while the other was recorded way back in 1924.
The current Holland squad consists of two top-15 players in Sjeng Schalken (ranked 13) and Martin Verkerk (14), besides Raemon Sluiter and Jon Van Lottum.
Schalken is coming straight into the match after winning his second ATP title this year in Brazil last week, while Verkerk's facial contours and stupendous run to the final at French Open makes him an equally strong opponent.
Meanwhile, Sluiter might miss one of the matches following the death of his manager. The Associated Press reported that Sluiter would have to attend the funeral of his manager Cees Veen, who died of a heart attack yesterday, either on Friday or Saturday.
Sluiter said he would play on the rest of the days.
