In an extraordinary turn of events, the West Indies cricket team on Friday called off the remaining part of its India tour in the wake of an acrimonious ongoing pay dispute with their Board, prompting a livid BCCI to contemplate legal action against the visitors.
The aggrieved Caribbean players were persuaded to take the field for the fourth ODI but have conveyed their decision to pull out of the remaining part of tour to the BCCI.
"The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has informed the BCCI of its decision to cancel the rest of its ongoing tour to India because of a dispute with its players, and has advised the BCCI that its players will return home immediately," BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel said.
"The reason given by WICB is that there were internal issues among their boys. The BCCI will be going to ICC and planning to sue the WICB and claim for damages. We will not take this lying down as we have cooperated with them in every aspect," Patel said.
"The BCCI is shocked and extremely disappointed at the decision taken by the WICB. The WICB's inability to resolve internal issues with its players and allowing the same to affect an ongoing bilateral series does not reflect well on any of those involved. The withdrawal gives little thought to the future of the game, the players and the long standing relations between the BCCI and the WICB," a strongly-worded statement from the BCCI said.
The BCCI made it clear that the decision was taken unilaterally by the West Indies Board and its players inspite of several appeals to them to honour the commitment.
"The BCCI wishes to inform all its stakeholders, especially ardent fans of the Indian cricket team, that this is a unilateral decision taken by the WICB and its players, in spite of several appeals to the WICB to honour its commitment and complete the series," Patel said.
"The BCCI will pursue all options available to protect its rights, whilst seeking appropriate action from the ICC to ensure that its interests and those of the game at large will not suffer any damage due to such acts of indiscretion," he said.
Sri Lanka agree to play instead
The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board has accepted BCCI's invitation to play five ODIs with India. The ODIs will be held from November 1 to 15.
"In principle we have agreed to accept India's invitation to play five one-day internationals," Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga confirmed on Friday to ESPNCricinfo.
"Initially India wanted us to play a T20 international as well but we decided that with the World Cup only a few months away playing five ODIs would be beneficial to both teams," he said.
Earlier, the West Indies Cricket Board abruptly called off the remainder of its India tour due to an ongoing payment dispute with the players. All the West Indian players had stood behind their captain Dwayne Bravo, who had demanded the resignation of Players' Association chief Wavell Hinds.
The West Indies decided to end the tour after the 4th ODI in Dharamsala and will not play the remaining fifth ODI, one-off T20 and three-Test series.
The BCCI has expressed shocked and disappointed at the WICB's decision to cut short the ongoing tour. The board also said it would sue the WICB.
(With inputs from PTI)
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