India start as firm favourites in the Davis Cup World Group II playoff tie against Morocco in Lucknow on Saturday and Sunday. But whether, or how comfortably, Rohit Rajpal’s team can put it past the visitors over the weekend, we have to wait and see.
If the soundbites from the two captains in the lead-up to the tie are any indication of the teams’ frame of mind, Morocco might have gained some advantage even before the first ball is hit.
“As we know in Davis Cup, you don’t have to see the rankings,” visiting captain Mehdi Tahiri said on the eve of Thursday’s draw. “Of course, when you see the paper, India are the favourites. But in the Davis Cup, you have to go out on the court and fight, give your best for the country.”
Tahiri knows what he is talking about. A former Davis Cupper, Tahiri is Morocco’s youngest debutant at the age of 15 back in 1993. In 2005, ranked a lowly 497, he beat then world No. 70 Gilles Muller in a 5-hour-45-minute epic. And the 46-year-old rolled the dice on Thursday when he nominated Adam Moundir, his third best-ranked player, to play the singles along with the promising 20-year-old Yassine Dlimi.
Dlimi, ranked 557, will take on Mukund Sasikumar in the opening singles while the Moundir, ranked 779, will face Sumit Nagal, ranked 156, in the second rubber. Elliot Benchetrit will pair with Younes Lalami Laaroussi in the doubles against Rohan Bopanna and Yuki Bhambri on Sunday.
In the reverse singles to follow, Nagal will have a crack at Dlimi before Mukund faces Moundir.
It is clear that the Moroccans are targeting Mukund, ranked 356, as he has been in the spotlight recently after being omitted from the squad for the Asian Games.
