The West Indies Cricket Board has been at loggerheads with a couple of its players. But explosive batsman Chris Gayle and pacer Jerome Taylor could still make it to the national squad for the upcoming ODI series against India.

The two players' decision to compete in the IPL after recovering from injuries had not gone down well with the WICB. The duo ended up offending the Board all the more by claiming that the WICB did not check on their injuries while they were recovering.

But despite the controversy, WICB CEO Ernest Hilaire said it was up to the selectors to pick the best squad for the series starting June 4.

"I think at the end of the day the selectors will sit and select the players they feel will best represent the West Indies and within the selection policy," Hilaire told the 'Trinidad and Tobago Express'.

Hilaire said the selectors would be free to pick the squad and there would be no interference from the WICB officials.

"The directors do not sit at selection committee meetings, I do not interact with the selection committee when they are deliberating," Hilaire explained.

"But at the end of the day, (selectors) will stand to scrutiny as to whether that team is in keeping with (WICB) policy, the same way the public will ask them questions," he said. Hilaire said he expects the senior players in the squad to act as mentors and to help build a strong team. "You need senior players who can help nurture the other players as they come along and that would be the ideal situation to have and the Board would want to have such a situation," Hilaire said.

"As long as we have senior players who are willing to perform that role as mentor and provide support for the young players coming in, the Board will always be receptive to having players like that in the team."
Queried specifically on Gayle and Taylor's comments about being left to fend for themselves during their injury problems, Hilaire said, "In (Gayle's and Taylor's) particular case the Board actually, after it received all the information from the medical panel, put out the chronology of events in how the panel managed the players.

"I have no question in my mind that the professionals involved have been doing an excellent job, and the players (are still) expressing dissatisfaction. If somebody is dissatisfied, you have to find out why they're dissatisfied and to make sure it doesn't happen again," he added.