No threat to India-West Indies series: BCCI

Dwayne Bravo (L) and MS Dhoni

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that there is no threat to the ongoing bilateral series between India and West Indies despite the existing friction between the Caribbean cricketers and their administration over payment-related issues.

While there were reports that the West Indies players could go on a strike over the aforementioned issue, BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel, speaking to PTI, said: “I want to clarify that there is no threat to the India versus West Indies series. The matches will go on as per schedule. In fact, I have spoken to a few officials from the WICB and have got assurance that there will be no disruption.”

He added: “I got an e-mail from WICB chairman Dave Cameron, who thanked BCCI for playing a pro-active role. Look, our job was to ensure that the series is run smoothly. This series of 3 Tests, 5 ODIs and a T20 International was chalked during the FTP calender of 2007-08.

“Futures Tour Programme (FTP) is sacrosanct and all the member nations must abide by it. You cannot disrespect what was decided in FTP calender. I told them that there isn’t a problem that can’t be sorted out across the table. If WICB wants, we can mediate once the series ends. These players are good boys and they know their duty,”

Patel also rubbished the rumours that the BCCI has made the payment on behalf of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), to make sure the series goes ahead. He said: “There is absolutely no truth to these rumours. The BCCI has not made any such payments and nor do we have any plans of indulging into any such financial transactions in principle.

“This is their internal matter. As a cricket board, we can obviously offer our advice on what can be the correct path to solve the problem but that’s about it,” the BCCI secretary concluded.