The five wise men of Indian cricket will meet at the Cricket Centre in Mumbai on Wednesday to pick a Test and an One Day International (ODI) team for the tour of Bangladesh. While a few players are likely to be granted their wish for a break. Most will travel.
Murali Vijay will be the first choice for the opening slot. His regular partner Shikhar Dhawan has requested for a break. If BCCI agrees, the selectors will bank on KL Rahul to partner Vijay. Then Jiwanjot Singh or Shreyas Iyer would be picked as the third opener.
The middle-order will be powered by skipper Virat Kohli. For a week there were speculations regarding his availability. But NDTV has learnt that Kohli will lead the team. From the middle-order, Rohit Sharma could get a break and that could open up an opportunity for Karun Nair.
Not much change is expected in the spin department, with Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel and Karn Sharma expected to retain their spots.
Mohammad Shami will be a notable exclusion from that list of pacers that is likely to feature Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Shami will be out because of an injury for at least a month.
A big question mark hangs over the selection of Suresh Raina, who flopped in the final Test vs Australia, scoring ducks in both innings.
The selectors will also pick a team for three ODIs. India's ODI skipper MS Dhoni is unsure of making it to Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, the BCCI is keen to give an opportunity to Robin Uthappa and Kedar Jadhav in the ODIs. While blooding youngsters in Bangladesh is a mission, the message to the selectors is that they should not compromise on the strength of the squad. Which means that seniors will only get leave on rotation basis.
The accent clearly is on improving India's away record. Hence, the Board wants to send the best possible unit available to take on a country ranked five places below them in Tests and six places below them in ODIs. The BCCI wants performance not wealth as the parameter for respectability.