India suspends future tours to West Indies

“All bilateral tours between BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and the WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) stand suspended,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said in a statement.

India were scheduled to tour the Caribbean in February-March 2016 to play three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 international.

The BCCI also announced it would “initiate legal proceedings against the WICB due to the abrupt cancellation of this tour”.

India’s cricket chief had warned of “serious action” against the West Indies for abandoning their tour. Tuesday’s statement comes after the BCCI’s working committee held an emergency meeting in Hyderabad.

India’s away tours usually generate huge sponsorship money for the host nation due to the country’s large cricket-viewing population.

The West Indies cut short their tour of India on Friday due to an internal payment dispute, even though one one-day international, a Twenty20 match and three Tests still remained to be played.

West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo had said before the start of the tour on October 8 that the players had not accepted the payment agreement signed on their behalf by the West Indies Players Association.

But the tourists took to the field for three one-dayers in Kochi, New Delhi and Dharamsala, while one match in Visakhapatnam was cancelled due to a severe storm on India’s east coast. – AFP