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

Kaif's selection was deemed a foregone conclusion, but a surprise was sprung in the team selection meeting on the eve of the Test, underway at Queen's Park Club.

It is fair to say that not everyone in the team was unanimous about the non-inclusion of a cricketer who was termed the "find of the tour" by India captain Sourav Ganguly [Images] 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 [Images], and was widely believed to be unlucky not to have picked the man of the tri-series award.

Kiran More, chairman of the selection committee, agreed over phone that Kaif is a shining example of improvement and work ethic and said he would have a word with coach Greg Chappell [Images] 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.

Kaif did everything that was expected of him by the team management after he was promoted to bat at number three in the one-day series in Zimbabwe.

Even in two instances where he took the number three spot in the preceding series in Sri Lanka [Images], he was a shining example of a batsman who had improved his batting by leaps and bounds, as he finished with 180 runs from five innings, including an unbeaten 83.

The batsman promoted ahead of Kaif is Yuvraj Singh [Images], who was also impressive in the last two one-day series, scoring two centuries, although they came against light-weight teams like the West Indies [Images] and Zimbabwe.

The Punjab left-hander is also on record to have said that he was short on confidence before the series in Sri Lanka.

Impressive as Yuvraj was, there is little doubt in any cricket lover's mind that, at the moment, Kaif is the better of the two batsmen.

Kaif was the automatic choice of the Indian team once Sachin Tendulkar [Images] missed the initial Tests against Australia last season and he played three Tests against the world champions and hit two successive half centuries

With the Indian batting as wobbly as it has been in recent times, his omission has only smacked of protectionism as a few members continue to be in the Indian side even when youngsters like Kaif and Yuvraj have shown that they are ready for the big stage.

"It is in interest of Indian cricket that India builds up the nucleus which would carry it forward and youngsters like Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif must play in every match," said Ravi Shastri.

In the wake of Kaif's dropping, which took everyone by surprise, the assembled press in Bulawayo was agog with speculation about who was responsible for the decision. It was rumoured that word had come from the BCCI's offices in India to include Yuvraj.

However, later it became apparent that the Board had nothing to do with the decision and it purely was limited to the men who are presently in Zimbabwe.

Who gains by Kaif's exclusion? It is not rocket science to guess the answer, though some wild rumours were still drifting in. One of them suggested that in view of the coming Board elections, it serves the BCCI to try and keep the recalcitrant Punjab Cricket Association by its side.