Young legspinner Amith Mishra's inclusion in the Indian team for the first two Tests against Australia did raise a few eyebrows.

Mishra pipped the more fancied Murali Karthik and Pragyan Ojha, a regular in the Indian squad over the last four months to take the third spinner's slot after skipper Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

Indian players training at Hyderabad on the eve of the BCCI President's XI versus Australia warm up game gaped in near disbelief when they heard the list. How could Ojha miss out? He was after also included in the Boards XI team to take on the Aussies from Thursday in the four day match.

The reasons and logics seem strangely mystified. Why would selectors want to go ahead with a second legspinner when the captain is the lead leggie in the team?

Why consider two left arm spinners and then suddenly revert to a legspinner at the last moment?

Maybe it is yet again the regional interests that came to the fore. Karthik and Ojha hail from the South Zone. Could it have been a compromise somewhere down the line to include a spinner in Mishra from the North Zone and create leeway for middle order batsman S. Badrinath from the South and Sourav Ganguly from the East? Speculations and wild hits in the dark yes, but worth a thought.

The other theory could be the fitness of Kumble. What if he gets injured? That would have thrown a huge challenge to fill up the legspinner's spot in the team. Mishra is a big turner of the ball, something that Karthik and Ojha are not. The two left armers do give the ball a tweak but rely
more on flight and sublte variations in the length to restrict runs.

To be fair to Mishra, he does rattle off wickets and that talent was in full show during the IPL.

As for first class records, Mishra has an edge over the two spinners left out. While Karthik has bagged 424 wickets at an average of 26.06 from 125 matches, Ojha has played 30 to pick up 121 wickets at 26.76. This is where Mishra has a clear edge: 289 wickets from 75 matches at 25.21.

Yes, this guy deserves to get a chance for sure.

Also making merry on a sultry Wednesdsay afternoon was Badrinath, who could not hide his excitement after making the India cut.

"Iam very very happy. I don't have words to explain how excited to have. This is a dream come true for me."

"I cannot ask more than facing Australia, the best team in the world." Asked how big an advantage, the tour game would be, Badri said: "I will get to face the bowlers here and that would be a huge plus."

However, once the announcement reached the players, the practice session wound up in five minutes.

Clearly, the probables were dejected. There is no reason to lose heart though. There is much gunpowder left to blaze yet. The India team has been announced for only the first two Tests.

Yuvarj Singh and Ojha have looks to look forward to and deliver over the next four days.