Shortlisted for the £50,000 Man Booker Prize this year are two Indian writers - Amitav Ghosh and Aravind Adiga. But, the non-inclusion of Salman Rushdie’s name has left both the critics and readers perplexed, particularly when the controversial writer’s ‘Enchantress of Florence’ was being considered a front runner.

Among some other well known writers not included are two favourites, namely, Joseph O’Neill and Mohammed Hanif, a London-based Pakistani journalist. While the former won great acclamation for his ‘Netherland’, about post-9/11 New York and cricket; the latter’s debut novel – ‘A Case of Exploding Mangoes’ – is a blazing political satire that has been quite well-received by the critics.

Ghosh has been included for his ‘Sea of Poppies’, and Adiga for his first novel ‘The White Tiger’, which is a hard-hitting work about India’s supposedly booming economy.

In fact, Adiga, aged 34, happens to be the youngest nominee for this highly esteemed literary award of the ‘English-speaking’ world.

A few other names that have found their way to the shortlist for their respective works are - Linda Grant for ‘The Clothes on their Backs’; Sebastian Berry for ‘The Secret Scripture’, Steve Toltz for ‘A Fraction of the Whole’, and Philip Hensher for ‘The Northern Clemency’. The names were announced in July, after a judicious selection from a longlist of 13 writers.

The respective works of each of the six shortlisted writers are ‘intensely readable’, in the opinion of the chairperson of the panel of judges - Michael Portillo - the former Tory politician and critic turned broadcaster.

As regards the geographical balance and the literary mix of the shortlisted names and works respectively, the critics opine that the representation is lopsided, though the judges are fairly satisfied with the same.

It is obvious that the exclusion of one of the favourites of the bookies, Salman Rushdie, has disappointed the critics, more so because he has lately won the Best of Booker Prize for his work, ‘Midnight’s Children’.

Both the Indian writers, Amitav Ghosh and Aravind Adiga, are being considered the early favourites for this year’s Man Booker Prize to be announced on October 14, in London.