Indian tennis legend Mahesh Bhupathi was on Thursday named the new non-playing captain of the Davis Cup team and will take charge after the Asia/Oceania zone group I home tie against New Zealand in Pune from February 3 to 5.
The tie against New Zealand will be Anand Amritraj's last tie as non-playing captain as AITA wants to give him a "farewell".
Multiple Grand Slam winner Bhupathi was the hot favourite the moment AITA decided to replace Amritraj. "Everybody should get a chance to be captain. No post stays with one person forever. I personally spoke to Mahesh and asked if he is available, he said 'Yes'. That was it. Also we wanted Anand to be given a farewell tie," AITA Secretary General Hiranmoy Chatterjee said.
Asked if Amritraj is happy with the decision, Chatterjee tersely replied: "No one wants to go. But everyone deserves a chance to be the captain."
Asked if players were taken into confidence since they had rallied around Amritraj, Chatterjee replied: "It's not their prerogative. We don't need to consult the players. Even leander Paes was not consulted."
Asked about the history of strained relationship between leander and Mahesh and whether the latter's elevation would prove to be end of the road for the former, Chatterjee said: "We will cross that bridge when it comes."
On whether Amritraj giving leeway to players as far as discipline is concerned was an issue alongwith his views in media, the AITA top official did not deny. "When a committee meets, we discuss a lot of things. But let me tell you that we did not receive any letter of support from the players," he asserted.
Chatterjee also said that there was no communication with either Somdev Devvarman or Ramesh Krishnan regarding coach and non-playing captain's role.
Chatterjee also said that Bhupathi has not demanded any special favours.
Bitter-sweet decision: Amritraj
India's outgoing Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj on Thursday termed as bitter-sweet, the AITA decision to hand him a farewell tie in February and predicted some tough time for the next man in charge, Mahesh Bhupathi.
The AITA Executive Committee decided to give Amritraj one last tie as reports emerged recently that he will be asked to go on account of indiscipline in the Indian team.
"It's an interesting decision by the AITA. I am a little disappointed because I had requested them for one more year, after which I would have stepped down from the captaincy voluntarily if they wanted me to. Now it seems like the NZ tie will be my farewell tie and that's bitter-sweet to me, considering the three good years we've had," Amritraj said.
Amritraj had taken over as captain from SP Misra in 2013 after leading players revolted against the way AITA was handling Davis Cup issues. The US-based Amritraj said Bhupathi, who will take the captain's position from April, has a task at hand since the players loved the way he handled them. "Till yesterday, I did not even know that Mahesh was interested in the captaincy. He will certainly have challenges like all new captains and he will have to handle them as he thinks best. His style of management will surely be different from mine and without sounding too cocky, he'll have a hard act to follow, considering the rapport I have with the team," Amritraj said.