It was the most united divided front the Indian team could put up.
Preparing to face the toughest Japanese side in a long time, the members of the Davis Cup team walked in one by one for the pre-draw press conference on Wednesday and took their places. The uncertainty over whether the fifth member, Harsh Mankad, should sit on the dais was solved with a quick nod from captain Leander Paes.
India and Japan will battle it out for a place in the World Group play-offs at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association courts in New Delhi from April 11 to 13.
Paes, talking for the first time on the rebellion against him from the team ranks, was earnest was ever; Prakash Amritraj was irreverent and refrained from blatant diplomacy; Mahesh Bhupathi was bemused with the conversation hovering around the controversy and its after-effects, while Rohan Bopanna, a man of few words, gave a quick update on his knee injury and spent the rest of the time staring at his nails.
"No matter what people outside say about my team, I have full faith in them and know that they will put their best foot forward," said Paes.
"There have been ups and downs, but our strength has been how we have handled things as a team. We believe that we can get to the World Group and I think after what has happened in the last few weeks will put some pressure on all of us to perform a little bit better. I think a little bit of ego is always good for a team."
Amritraj, who along with Bopanna and Bhupathi had called for Paes to be removed as captain, said he does not believe in regretting things and his focus is only on the tie ahead.
"I believe in moving forward," said the Los Angeles-based Amritraj. "When I came to India my only concern was to help India get into the next round."
Though Bhupathi, who practised for the first time with the team on Wednesday morning, looked relaxed and joked around with Paes, Amritraj warmed-up on his own and only played two sets of singles with Mankad.
While Paes and Bhupathi have had their ups and downs in their long history as partners and rivals, the young Amritraj is still coping with his first fall-out with the captain.
"You people can read whatever you want into it," said Amritraj. "But I am a huge animal of habit and there are certain stretches and routines I follow regardless of what the others are doing, and I am not going to change that."
One of the major concerns the revolting members had was that they were "not comfortable with Paes in the captain's chair".
The 34-year-old replied saying that since the AITA nominated him as the captain he would be sitting on the chair. However, he said Amritraj and Bopanna would be the best people to answer that.
"That's more of a private team discussion," retaliated Amritraj.
Bhupathi, who had beaten Paes in the doubles quarter-finals of the Miami Masters last week, said that the team has considered all the cons of playing the tie and found their own comfort zones within the team.
"We have all known for the past one month that we are going to be playing with each other. It's a big match for all of us and we are not here to make up the numbers."
Bhupathi, Bopanna and Amritraj came to the venue and left in one car while the rest were packed into another. The two camps that were always rumoured to exist in the team are now out in the open. Whether it's a blessing in disguise for India team remains to be seen.
