BCCI suspends all bilateral series against West Indies, to take legal action

BCCI has suspended all future tours with West Indies

Hyderabad – The Indian cricket board Tuesday decided to initiate legal action against the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and cancel all bilateral series against the Caribbean side whose players withdrew mid-way from an ongoing India tour last week.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took the decision at its working committee meet here. “The BCCI will initiate legal proceedings against the WICB due to the abrupt cancellation of the tour,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said.

The Dwayne Bravo-led visiting team was yet to play the fifth One-Day International (ODI) at Kolkata and a one-off Twenty20 International at Cuttack followed by three Tests at Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmedabad when they decided to withdraw.

“All bilateral tours between BCCI and WICB stand suspended,” Patel added.

Following the fourth ODI at Dharamsala, the West Indies players chose not to complete the tour because of an ongoing payment structure dispute with the WICB and West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA).

Skipper Bravo, unhappy with the manner in which WIPA president Wavell Hinds had handled the dispute, said the players had lost faith in the WIPA.

The BCCI also appreciated the gesture of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) which will send its team to play a five-match ODI series, starting Nov 2, to fill the gap in the cricket calendar left by the Windies’ cancellation.

The working committee, with interim BCCI president Shivlal Yadav in the chair, confirmed that India, which were supposed to host Sri Lanka in a Test series in July-August next year, will now travel to the neighbouring nation.

“This tour is in lieu of their scheduled tour to India next year which will be reciprocated by India touring Sri Lanka in July-August 2015,” Patel said.

The five ODIs will be played in Cuttack, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

The meeting was attended, among others, by Yadav, International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman N. Srinivasan, BCCI secretary Patel and Indian team director Ravi Shastri.