BCCI to move court against WICB, suspends bilateral tours

Hyderabad, Oct 21 (IANS) The Indian cricket board 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. All bilateral tours between BCCI and WICB stand suspended," 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.

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.

BCCI will also write to the International Cricket Council (ICC) to apprise the world body about the conduct of the WICB apart from sending a notice to the Caribbean board to claim financial and image-related damages it suffered.

"We will write to the ICC informing them about the conduct of the WICB. We will be also sending a notice to WICB to claim damages which the BCCI suffered both financially as well as loss of face and to inform them about our decision to suspend all bilateral tours," BCCI joint secretary Anurag Thakur said.

However, in a relief to the Windies players, Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Ranjib Biswal said they will allow the Caribbean players to play in the cash-rich tournament next season.

"There will be no sanction against the West Indies players and they will be allowed to play in the IPL," Biswal said.

Opening batsman Chris Gayle (Royal Challengers Bangalore), all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith (Chennai Super Kings), power-hitting batsman Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians) and mystery spinner Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders) are some of the Windies players who have star-value in the Twenty20 tournament.

The BCCI also appreciated the gesture of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) which will send its team to play a five-match ODI series, starting Nov 2, to fill the void in the cricket calendar left by the Windies' cancellation.

The working committee, with interim BCCI president Shivlal Yadav in the chair, confirmed that India, who were supposed to host Sri Lanka in a Test series in July-August next year, will now travel to the neighbouring island 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.

The five ODIs will be played in Cuttack, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

The meeting was attended, among others, by Yadav, International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman N. Srinivasan, Patel and Indian team director Ravi Shastri.