India ponder over final line-up

The Chinese may be the underdogs in their Davis Cup Asia Ocenia Group I tie against the hosts in New Delhi but the Indian think tank is not willing to take any chances and would wait till the last moment before deciding their singles line-up.

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Even team captain Leander Paes, who has been shouldering the responsibility of the main singles player for over a decade now, is weighing his fitness options and whether he has recovered enough from the ankle injury to play on all the three days of the tie starting Friday.

"I have been practising singles very hard for the last few days. We will be deciding the singles line up this evening but before that I have to ask myself whether I am physically ready to play for all three days or should the other guys take some responsibility," Paes said.

The 31-year-old said he had always done well on the Davis Cup stage but was quick to point out that it was not a 'Lee show' and as a captain it was his responsibility to field his best team.

The Indian skipper, who is returning after a two-month lay off following an ankle injury in Sydney in January, was also happy that he had more options to choose from as Prakash Amritraj's game was tailor made for grass court while Harsh Mankad was on a high after winning the satellite circuit in England last week.

"It is good that we have few more options. These two guys are eager to share the responsibility and that is a very good thing."

Both the teams would be announcing their final line up only on Thursday before the draw, to be made at the Prime Minister's residence, but Bhupathi made it clear that Paes and he would be playing the doubles.

Bhupathi, who along with Paes has not lost a Davis Cup doubles rubber for the last 10 outings now, however, cautioned that the Chinese were not mere pushovers and they could not afford to take them easy.

The Indian team was also quite happy with the DLTA court and said it suited their style of play.

"The court is a bit patchy and fairly quick. It is a serve and volleyer's court and it suits us," Paes said.

Meanwhile, the Chinese suffered a minor setback as their experienced player Zhu Ben Qiang hurt his back while practising.

But their non-playing captain Zhao Xie said the injury was not serious and was hopeful that the player would be fit to play his part in the tie.