HYDERABAD, India, CMC The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced that it would “initiate legal proceedings” against West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) as the fall-out continues yesterday following the sudden and dramatic pull out by the senior West Indies cricketers from their tour of the sub-continent.
BCCI also disclosed that all bilateral tours by India to the West Indies have been suspended even as the WICB was meeting in emergency session in Barbados yesterday to discuss the ramifications of the decision by the players.
India were expected to play five series against West Indies in the next eight years, including four visits to the Caribbean.
“The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) will initiate legal proceedings against West Indies Cricket Board due to the abrupt cancellation of this tour,” it said in a statement after meeting in the southern city of Hyderabad.
“All bilateral tours between BCCI and WICB stand suspended.”
The BCCI release made no specific mention of any claim for damages; but reports suggest that the BCCI suffered a loss of up to US 65 million dollars as a result of the pull out.
The West Indies followed through with threats to quit the tour after the fourth one-day international in Dharamsala on Friday, with one more ODI, a Twenty20 and three tests remaining.
“The Members appreciated the gesture of Sri Lankan Cricket Board for having accepted our request to play 5 ODIs starting from 2nd of November 2014, at such a short notice,” the BCCI statement said.
“This tour is in lieu of their scheduled tour to India next year which will be reciprocated by India touring Sri Lanka in months of July/August 2015”.
West Indies players are disgruntled over a change in their Collective Bargaining Agreement with the WICB, which they claim results in a drastic reduction in their earnings.
While on tour, they lobbied their union, the West Indies Players Association for a change to the agreement, and also threatened to withdraw their services if no resolution was forthcoming.
The pullout has angered the BCCI fuelling speculation that West Indies players who campaign in the prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL) will be banned.
But the chairman of the IPL, Ranjib Biswal, has said that West Indies’ cricketers would not face any ban and that the matter was not even discussed in crisis meetings.
