Selectors may play it safe for West Indies tour

It's all about round-the-year consistency vs IPL performances as the selectors get down to select the ODI squad for the West Indies series here on Friday. New coach Duncan Fletcher will be here and so will be skipper MS Dhoni.

Indications are that selectors will look to give more weightage to performances over the season than a few super innings or magic spells in the IPL. The selectors had gone by IPL performances and selected players like Swapnil Asnodkar ( India A side) and Manpreet Gony (Indian team) in 2008. It's unlikely that they will repeat that mistake on Friday.

The theme of IPL is 'when talent meets opportunity'. It's true that players like Ambati Rayudu, Rahul Sharma and Paul Valthaty have come under the spotlight with some great performances in the ongoing league. But the selectors are likely to play it safe and go for the players who have done well in the first-class season and then followed it up with decent performances in IPL. And that's the reason why the likes of S Badrinath, Parthiv Patel and Amit Mishra are ahead in the race for the extra batsman, 'keeper and the third spinner's slot respectively.

While Badrinath, who amassed 922 runs in the Ranji Trophy and is going great guns in IPL, is almost a certainty, the Parthiv-Rayudu and Mishra-Rahul Sharma duels can be interesting. Another spinning allrounder, Ravindra Jadeja, could spice it up further. He had a rocky international ride but his show in IPL will force the selectors to discuss him.

From the team that won the World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan are likely to be rested for the five-match ODI series while leggie Piyush Chawla will struggle to hold on to his place. There's a question mark over Ashish Nehra's fitness and that may just help Sreesanth retain his place. R Vinay Kumar's name will also be discussed and it's to be seen who Dhoni bats for. Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma are likely to come back to the squad while Munaf Patel will hold on to his place.

There was speculation about Dhoni pulling out of the ODI series, but the BCCI bosses said on Thursday evening that they "haven't heard anything from the skipper that he is not going". In case Dhoni doesn't go (which looks very unlikely at the moment), both Parthiv and Rayudu can come into the squad.

Virender Sehwag will undergo a shoulder surgey and that's going to open the door for Rohit Sharma.