CHRIS Gayle's omission from the West Indies team has overshadowed the build-up to the first Test against India, which starts on Monday.

The controversial former captain is involved in a dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board, which has threatened not only his participation in the series, but also his international career for the Caribbean side.

It followed comments he made during a radio interview in his native Jamaica in April.

Gayle and high level West Indies officials met on Tuesday to discuss their differences, but the meeting ended in uncertainty, with the WICB directors to decide on Gayle's fate at a board meeting in the Jamaica capital on Friday.

Fellow opener Adrian Barath earned a recall instead, and will open with compatriot Lendl Simmons.

Barath spent nearly five months on the sidelines nursing a damaged hamstring, and made a return to the side on Thursday in the fifth One-Day International against the Indians at the same venue.

He is the only change to the previous Test squad that played Pakistan in St Kitts earlier this month, with teenage opener Kraigg Brathwaite omitted.

Veteran left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul has also been at loggerheads with the WICB in recent weeks, but has also been retained.

Chanderpaul also made some highly-charged comments about the WICB officials in a radio interview during the Pakistan series.

He was subsequently written to on the matter, but he played in the first Test against Pakistan before injury sidelined him for the second Test.

The WICB said it also intended to have a meeting with Chanderpaul prior to the Test to outline their expectations of him in his future participation in the West Indies team as a player.

It was not clear about the status of all-rounder Dwayne Bravo. He had missed the Tests against Pakistan, after playing in the ODIs, to play in the Indian Premier League.

He played the first two ODIs against the visitors in his native Trinidad, but then requested a break from the game to 'refocus and reflect', and was hoping to rejoin the team for the Test series.