India may be much below Italy in rankings, but their non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi Wednesday said his players will not be intimidated by their European opponents in the Davis Cup Qualifiers in Kolkata next month.

Keeping in mind Italians’ weakness on grass, India have opted for grass courts in South Club here for the February 1-2 fixtures which will be played in new format with the winners making a cut to the 18-nation finals in Madrid next year.

“Nothing can be taken for granted. We are underdogs but my boys will not be intimidated. I feel we have a better chance,” Bupathi told reporters on the sidelines of the first practice session of the team at the Calcutta Gymkhana Club.

Talking about his personal experience as a Davis Cup player, he said, “When I was playing Davis Cup, if I played a top ranked player, it was different for me because I was always competing at the challenger level.

“But with these guys, I don’t think ranking plays a factor. I think they actually truly believe that they are capable of beating them if they play well.”Bhupathi spoke highly of India number one and world ranked 109 Prajnesh Gunneswaran who has improved 200 ranking places in two years, while he termed world number 131 Ramkumar Ramanathan as “super dangerous”.

“On these courts, Ram is going to be super dangerous. We all saw what he did in Newport last year, he made the final and he should have won the title. So we’re positive,” Bhupathi said.

“It’s definitely an advantage to have a quality left-hander on your team. We’ve never had that ever as far as I can remember. Two years ago when we brought him in, there was a strategic reason for that. It wasn’t because at that time he was ranked 350, but we wanted a lefty and it worked for us,” he said.

“They got two guys in the top 50, so I don’t think the equation changes for us. We don’t have one guy in the top 100.” Asked about the shortened format, Bhupathi said: “Better or worse, I don’t know it’s better for India. When you’re trying to upset a team like Italy, obviously beating them in two sets versus three sets is easier asked for me, for my boys.

In the Australian Open, there’s a super tiebreaker in the men’s singles now, Wimbledon is changing. So yeah, I think everyone will learn to live with it. And it’s the way forward in sport.” India have beaten Italy only once in five Davis Cup ties, and that happened at the very same South Club courts in Kolkata back in 1985.