One might have expected the Indian selectors to make the tough but necessary call for the Spain tie, if not for the one against the Czech Republic last year.

Tennis wise, the circumstances were as ripe for the bold move as they are now. We were playing one of the top ranked teams and the odds were stacked against the Indians. It would have made perfect sense to blood in a deserving young lad against the best on home soil.

Then, Saketh Myneni – yes, at 28 not young really – was building up good form since winning an Asian Games medal the previous year and might have been a good foil for Rohan Bopanna. With Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman on top of their game, he would have been a good option for reverse singles – which the team has very much needed and still needs, given that Bhambri has often struggled to produce his Tour form in Cup ties at home.

Now, there are Sumit Nagal and Prajnesh Gunneswaran who have been trying to push their ranking by playing in higher prize money Challengers. An opportunity to be with the Indian team and play against Rafael Nadal or David Ferrer, even if it was only in reverse singles and most probably a dead rubber, would have still given them some sort of exposure. Especially for the 19-year-old Nagal!

On the other hand, what was the compulsion to play Paes, then and now? If it was with the Olympics in mind that he was paired with Bopanna in 2015, it proved to be a spectacular failure. And if the argument is that Paes’ presence at least gives us a chance of winning the doubles rubber, what’s the point in having that one point when we have little or no chance of winning the remaining four?

It’s not a solid argument to say that “India’s chance hinges on doubles.” That will be the case only when there is a reasonable chance of winning at least two of the four singles rubbers!

The argument that we need to field Paes, a 40-plus doubles specialist, simply because we are playing a tennis powerhouse in a playoff actually proves the lack of depth in our game. To understand it, we need to ask ourselves this: Do we have a team good enough to stay in the World Group? It’s the third time in a row that the team is reaching the playoff stage, and it has fallen short on all three occasions.

We need at least two, if not three, strong singles players to make it to the World Group and stay there. And it’s only by throwing the young in the deep, letting the cubs skirmish with the lions, that we are going to discover them.

There is no questioning the calibre of Paes. India might still need him if and when the team makes it to the World Group. His experience and acumen would be of immense value and inspiration to the players when they enter the lion’s den. But that’s for another day. Today we needed young blood and unburdened shoulders, and we have failed to act.