PTF pick Huzaifa Abdul Rehman & Shoaib Khan for Davis Cup tie against India
Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) has named Huzaifa Abdul Rehman, Shoaib Khan and Yousaf Khan Khalil to represent the country in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania tie against India, scheduled to be played at Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan from November 29 to 30.
Pakistan has been forced to pick two rookie 17-year-olds for its Davis Cup encounter against a full-strength Indian squad, after senior players Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan pulled out of the tie as a protest against the tie being shifted to a neutral venue.
The Davis Cup Asia-Oceania tie against India is scheduled to be played at Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan from November 29 to 30.
The Pakistan Tennis Federation has named teenagers Huzaifa Abdul Rehman and Shoaib Khan in the squad to face India, both of whom are ranked 446 and 1004 respectively in the junior ITF ranking list.
Yousuf Khan and Ahmad Kamil, also teenagers, along with Amjad complete the squad.
With Pakistan’s top players Aisam and Aqeel pulling out of the tie in protest against shifting out of matches to a neutral venue, the PTF was left with no option but to pick junior players.
In the last tie, Pakistan hosted against Uzbekistan in April 2018, apart from Aqeel and Aisam, Muzammil Murtaza, Heera Ashiq and Shahzad Khan were part of the squad, which the hosts lost 0-4. In the same year, Pakistan had beaten Korea 4-0 at home.
Since 2017, Pakistan hosted four Davis Cup teams and Hong Kong was the only team deciding against travelling to Islamabad.
