Kaif's exclusion from playing eleven shocking

Middle order batsman Mohammad Kaif was not picked in the playing eleven for the first Test and it is being seen as one more instance of bizarre happenings in Indian cricket.

Kaif's selection was deemed a foregone conclusion before a surprise was sprang on him in the team selection meeting on the eve of the Test which started at Queen's Park Club on Tuesday.

It is fair to say that not everyone in the team is unanimous on the non-inclusion of a cricketer who was termed the "find of the tour" by Indian captain Sourav Ganguly after the tri series.

Kaif scored 277 runs at 92.33 from five innings which included a century and a near-century against New Zealand and was widely believed to be unlucky not to have picked the man of the series award.

Kiran More, chairman of selection committee meeting, agreed on phone that Kaif has been a shining example of improvement and work ethic recently and that he would have a word with coach Greg Chappell on the issue.

"Kaif has been very good with his work ethic and I would speak to Greg before being in a position to say why it happened," More said.

First Published: Sep 14, 2005 15:35 IST