(From left) Mahesh Bhupathi, Prakash Amritraj and captain Leander Paes in New Delhi on Thursday. (Fotocorp)

New Delhi: Japan’s non-playing captain Eiji Takeuchi couldn’t stop smiling after Kei Nishikori was drawn to play Rohan Bopanna in the opening rubber of the Asia-Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie starting at the DLTA Courts on Friday.

Takeuchi has reason to feel happy as the visitors are banking heavily on the 18-year-old in their quest to beat the Indians.

India have won all seven of their home ties against Japan since 1961 and last played in the World Group in 1998. They have not made the play-offs since 2005. Japan, meanwhile are looking for their second successive appearance in the play-offs.

Currently ranked 120 in the world, Nishikori became the first Japanese player to win an ATP event in 16 years when he bagged the Delray Beach title in February.

To Japan’s advantage, Nishikori has been pitted against a player who is not only 205 rungs below in the ranking ladder but is also struggling to recover from a knee injury that kept him away from training over the past two days.

“I am very satisfied with the draw,” Takeuchi said. “I am confident that Nishikori will put us in lead in the first singles before (Go) Soeda plays Prakash (Amritraj) later in the day.”

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will team up in the doubles on Saturday where they face Takao Suzuki and Satoshi Iwabuchi.

There is speculation that Bopanna could pull out at the last moment and pave the way for Harsh Mankad to play in the singles, but the Bangalore-based player said he was fit for the tie.

“I am playing in the first match means I have recovered from the injury. Otherwise my name would not have been there,” said Bopanna, who pulled out of the ITF Challenger final in Chandigarh last week because of the injury.

“My knee is fine now and I am absolutely ready for the tie. I always like starting first up and am looking forward to giving Prakash a 1-0 advantage to build on,” Bopanna said.

Though Leander Paes declared that he was satisfied with the draw, team sources said the captain was in two minds where Bopanna was concerned.

Bopanna practised with a heavily strapped left knee on Centre Court on Thursday. The 27-year-old, who trained under the watchful eyes of coach Nandan Bal and Paes, didn’t look comfortable in his movements on the court.

“In the team meeting on Wednesday night, Paes left the decision to Bopanna as he didn’t want to start a fresh controversy,” the source said. “Since Bopanna declared himself fit, Paes agreed to play him.”

Commenting on the draw, Paes said: “The draw has worked out well. Rohan always starts first for us and he was pretty adamant about that.

“But there would not have been much difference if Prakash would have started. Till now, everything has gone well and its time for us to perform over the next three days.”