West Indies Cancels Tour Author : Indian exp
The West Indies tour to India has been called off abruptly and the visitors are scheduled to depart for the Caribbean on their own expenses after the fourth ODI being played at Dharamsala. Sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have confirmed the development and revealed that they approached Sri Lanka, who have agreed to play five ODIs and one-off T20I. The West Indies were originally scheduled to play five ODIs, a solitary T20 and three Tests. But will now leave Indian shores having played just three 50-over matches with the one in Visakhapatnam having been rained off. (Also Read: On eve of 1st ODI, WI players and cricket board spar over revenue)
The BCCI have also said that they will take up the matter during the next ICC meeting and will sue the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for the losses they will incur due to the visitors’ sudden decision to call off the tour.
“The West Indies will be flying back home on their own expenses. We will not be compensating them for anything,” a BCCI source explained.
The West Indies players led by ODI skipper Dwayne Bravo had been on a warpath with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and its president Wavell Hinds from the start of the tour with regards to revenue sharing with the WICB.
Unlike previous pay disputes that the West Indian players had been involved in, the present one concerns the recently put-in-place revenue sharing model based on the agreement signed between the WICB and the WIPA led by former opener Wavell Hinds. Based on the new agreement, some amount of the WICB’s revenue was supposed to trickle down to the regional group of domestic players rather than remain exclusively with the international players. (Also Read: West Indies show up, but trouble still brews)
The West Indian team had failed to turn up for their scheduled practice cum acclimatisation session on the eve of the first ODI at Kochi. There had been doubts whether they would turn up for the fourth ODI in Dharamsala. But the visitors did land up eventually and the entire playing XI was present in the background during the toss in a show of support to skipper Bravo, who openly spoke about the issue.
“My team is standing behind me [and he doesn't mean it metaphorically, remember], it’s been a tough tour for us. We don’t want cricket to suffer and we don’t want our fans to suffer. It’s time to make a decision though,” he said at the toss.