India banks on Sriram Balaji and Ramkumar Ramanathan against Sweden

Kicking things off: Elias Ymer and Sriram Balaji will open the Davis Cup World Group tie between Sweden and India in Stockholm on Saturday. | Photo: Special Arrangement

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.

Borg reached a career-best rank of 334 before slipping to his current status of 603. The 21-year-old may be more familiar as the son of the legendary Bjorn Borg, but Leo himself has a strong foundation, having been ranked No.12 in the world as a junior.

In front of the home fans, the Swedes are expected to be competing like tigers in the den, in the indoor arena.

The matches on the first day are scheduled to start from 5.30 p.m. IST, while the second day’s play, which will feature the doubles followed by the two reverse singles matches, will start at 3.30 p.m. IST.

Sony Sports will broadcast the matches live for the Indian audience.

The draw: September 14: Elias Ymer vs Sriram Balaji; Leo Borg vs Ramkumar Ramanathan.

September 15: Filip Bergevi & Andre Goransson vs Balaji & Ramkumar; Ymer vs Ramkumar, Borg vs Balaji.