Mahesh Bhupathi has said that Leander Paes has no reason to "sulk" after being excluded from India's playing squad for the Davis Cup since he conveyed in advance that his place was not confirmed in the final four.
The non-playing captain had picked Rohan Bopanna ahead of Paes to play against Uzbekistan and defended his decision.
After India's Davis Cup win against Uzbekistan, Bhupathi made public his Whatsapp chat with Paes on 5 March.
In their chat, Bhupathi told Paes that he was still undecided about the combination but logically Rohan Bopanna would suit the conditions in Bengaluru.
In a post on Facebook, Bhupathi pointed out that Paes had his own definition of "respect" and also claimed that the winner of 18 Grand Slams didn’t always walk the talk when it came to disciplinary issues.
Bhupathi said the reason he was friends with Somdev, Rohan, Sania, Purav, Saketh was because they had mutual "respect which they never got in any form from the other (Paes)”.
“If I were to forget for five minutes, all the times he took his spot on the team for granted and showed up late for Davis cup or the Olympics, or not comply with team requests on uniform or outfit, or blatantly tell the captain or management that things have to fall in place the way he needs them to, his leaving Bangalore on Saturday in the middle of our tie was the final nail in the coffin,” said Bhupathi.
Bhupathi also wrote that if Paes does not like his ideas, he should not come in his way since he has backing of AITA.
Coming into the tie, Paes had a won a Challenger event in Mexico and joined the Indian team on Wednesday while the rest of the members assembled on Sunday.
Bhupathi said when there was space for only one doubles, player, Rohan Bopanna was a better choice.
Unhappy with his exclusion, Paes had questioned the selection criteria and left for Mumbai midway into the tie, a decision which Bhupathi termed as "shocking".
In a response to Bhupathi releasing the Whatsapp conversations and his Facebook post, Leander Paes said that he was never informed he wasn’t playing the Davis Cup tie until he arrived in Bengaluru.
He also said that “a private exchange has been made public just points to the kind of conduct that I find unbecoming of a Davis Cup Captain”.
“As for the long post on social media by Mahesh belittling my contribution to Davis Cup, I can give a detailed rebuttal pointing out just how one-sided and convoluted his arguments are. I may do so in the near future but as far as the fans out there are concerned, they just have to examine who won what for our country when representing the flag. Talk is cheap, history books, however, don't lie,” he concluded.
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