Injury-hit India look to ride on home support to reach Billie Jean King Cup playoffs

The players and venue would be different but India would be hoping to repeat its result from the last year when the team takes on Thailand in its opening tie of the Billie Jean King Cup at the DLTA Stadium on Tuesday.

The six-team Asia/Oceania Group I competition, to be played in a single round-robin format, will be the second straight year India is hosting the event. India, which finished second behind New Zealand in Pune in 2025 to advance to the playoffs, will be hoping to do so again.

It won’t be easy, however, with Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, who went unbeaten in all her five matches last year and was awarded the BJK Heart award for her performances, out with injury.

New Zealand, Thailand and Korea have returned this year along with Mongolia and Indonesia with the latter expected to be a tough opponent and the former an unknown quantity the team captain and former Davis Cupper Vishal Uppal is wary of.

While Shrivalli pulled out with a back spasm, reserve player Vaidehee Chaudhari injured her ankle during training on Thursday but Uppal insisted there was enough depth in the team without revealing his team combinations.

Zeel Desai has been called up as a replacement, the 27-year-old withdrawing from the semifinals of the $15000 ITF event in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar to join the side at the last minute.

Top-ranked Indian Vaishnavi Adkar, Sahaja Yamalappalli, Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale complete the side with the last two, the most experienced, expected to shoulder the doubles challenge while leaving the singles to the youngsters.

“I’m happy having a problem picking players for a tie than one where I don’t have players, that’s a good problem to have, it tells you there’s depth,” Uppal said on the eve of the competition.

India’s biggest challenge will be from Indonesia, led by the highest-ranked player in the field, World No. 41 Janice Tjen, and doubles specialist Aldila Sutjiadi. New Zealand, also remains a threat with doubles specialist Erin Routliffe in its ranks despite the absence of Lulu Sun.

Tuesday’s matches (3 p.m. onwards): India vs. Thailand (centre court), New Zealand vs. Indonesia (court 1), Mongolia vs. Korea (court 2).