New Delhi: In a big setback to the Indian Davis Cup team, country's leading singles player Yuki Bhambri was on Sunday ruled out of the upcoming tie against Uzbekistan due to a knee injury.
Yuki is a vital cog in India's Davis Cup scheme and in his absence it will be extremely tough for the hosts to challenge the visitors, who will be led by World No 70 Denis Istomin.
Yuki did not report to the preparatory camp, which began in Bangalore on Sunday.
Ramkumar Ramanathan will now spearhead India's singles challenge but he has been struggling for form in recent times.
Non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi had picked four singles specialist for the tie and now it will be imperative for him to play either veteran Leander Paes or Rohan Bopanna or both.
If Bhupathi picks only one doubles player, both Prajnesh Gunneswaran and N Sriram Balaji will make Davis Cup debut for India and the latter will surely feature in the doubles rubber.
