Shiv Sundar Das is a puzzled man.

On May 24, the former Test opener from Orissa was 'unanimously selected' by the national selectors to lead the India 'A' side on the England tour, from June 22 to August 3.

Less than a month later, when the team was leaving for England on June 22, chairman of selectors Brijesh Patel announced that Tamil Nadu middle-order batsman Hemang Badani would lead the side in all the one-day games on tour.

Patel argued that Badani, who has played a few one-day internationals for India, is still a prospect for the senior team. He told The Hindu, "We thought he [Badani] is the better candidate to lead the side while Das has only a limited role in one-dayers."

Thus, quite suddenly, Das, who was earlier surprised at being named to lead the side, found himself out of the reckoning to even play a single one-day game.

But the question is, how did all the selectors suddenly change their mind?

It now turns out that not all five did. Just the chairman and one other member.

A miffed member of the selection committee told rediff.com that he was not even consulted about the change and only learnt of it from the morning papers.

"This is a big mistake," he said, on condition that his name is not revealed. "It is not good for the team."

Former Test stumper Kiran More was the only other member of the selection committee who knew of the change because he was in Bangalore at the time, attending a camp for wicketkeepers.

More told rediff.com on telephone from his hometown Baroda, "Brijesh Patel forgot to inform the other selectors because he was busy with the National Cricket Academy seminars."

More claimed that he and Patel did not decide the matter on their own. "[India coach] John Wright was also consulted on the matter. With the hassles of arranging the seminars, it slipped his [Patel's] mind," he said.

More argued that since Das is not a one-day player, naming him the captain for the one-dayers would mean denying players with a better chance of making the one-day team, like Sridharan Sriram and Rohan Gavaskar, the opportunity to play. "And Badani is a good one-day player," he added.

But the selector quoted earlier rubbished this claim, saying Badani was not even a certainty for the tour. "What did he do on the India 'A' tour to the West Indies?" he said. "He was a failure. [Earlier] he was dropped from the [senior] team after the one-day series against England at home for his selfish attitude."

According to this selector, the idea of picking Das as the skipper was to groom a regular opener for the tour of Australia later this year. After all, he argued, the India 'A' side is only playing four one-dayers during its 45 days in England. The team will also play six three-day games and one four-day match.

Meanwhile, Das's home association is also quite upset at the sudden change. Orissa Cricket Association general secretary Asirbad Behera pointed out that the issue of having two captains was never raised during the entire selection process or at the training camp in Bangalore.

In a letter to Board of Control for Cricket in India president Jagmohan Dalmiya, Behera has sought to know when and by whom the decision to have a second captain was taken.