Hyderabad: The Indian cricket board on 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 on November 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.
In a bit of relief for West Indies cricket, IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal however said their players will be allowed to compete in the cash-rich league, putting to rest speculations of them being ignored from the event after the team’s abrupt cancellation of India tour.
“West Indies players will be playing in IPL,” said Biswal after the Working Committee meeting, here.
Meanwhile, the Twenty20 tournament is scheduled to kickstart on April 9, 2015 just after the ODI World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
“IPL-8 will begin from April 9 next year and the franchises will get 11 days for preparation of the T20 league after the end of the World Cup,” a member of the IPL Governing Council told PTI.
He also said that the franchises have asked for compensation for hosting IPL 7 in the UAE.
“The franchises have asked to compensate for the 15 days of IPL 7 held outside the country. The BCCI auditors will decide on the amount of compensation,” he added.
