India, Feb. 9 -- Last year, Dhakshineswar Suresh was far from doing the kind of things he did for India in Davis Cup over the weekend in Bengaluru. Not even among the country's top-five ranked singles players, he was part of the reserves in the squad and based in the US playing collegiate tennis.

The 6'5" Madurai-born player, though, possesses a weapon not many can flaunt in Indian tennis currently: a big serve.

An inspired pick by non-playing captain Rohit Rajpal plucked Dhakshineswar out of the reserves and placed him on the forefront of India's two significant Davis Cup wins in the last six months.

Against Switzerland in Biel last September, the team's secret weapon, then ranked 626th, upset 155th-ranked Jerome Kym to set the founda...