India banks on Sriram Balaji and Ramkumar Ramanathan against Sweden

Indian team relies on Balaji and Ramkumar in Davis Cup match against Sweden, aiming to break losing streak.

Olympian Sriram Balaji will open the campaign for India against the 238th ranked Elias Ymer in the Davis Cup World Group-1 tennis encounter against Sweden on the indoor hard courts at the Royal Tennis Hall in Stockholm on Saturday.

The Indian team opted to rely on Balaji and Ramkumar Ramanathan for the first day’s play after they put India in the driver’s seat on the way to the 4-0 victory against Pakistan in the World Group play-off earlier in Islamabad.

Captain Rohit Rajpal already hinted at repeating the players in singles and doubles, after watching the players in training. The team will depend on Balaji and Ramkumar to shoulder the doubles rubber against Filip Bergevi and Andre Goransson.

Ramkumar will play No. 2 Swede Leo Borg in the second singles on the opening day.

In the five ties over the years, Sweden has never lost to India. In fact, India has managed to win only two rubbers in all.

Depending on the results of the opening day, the captain will have the option of changing players for the reverse singles.

While the 28-year-old Ymer, ranked 238 at the moment, had a career-best rank of 105, Ramkumar also had enjoyed a career-best rank of 111 in 2018.