West Indies Cricket Board confirms team tour of India is cancelled

Oct 18: The West Indies Cricket Board have confirmed that the team's tour of India has been cancelled due to a pay dispute with their own players.

The WICB held a meeting on Friday when they were informed that the players had 'taken a decision to withdraw their services for the remainder of the tour of India'.

The West Indies board initially denied a decision had been made to end the tour but have now confirmed the tour is over with the remaining five matches which were scheduled - the fifth one-day international, a T20 international and three Test matches - all cancelled.

India will now play Sri Lanka instead, in a five-match one-day series in November.

A dispute with the touring players came to a head during the fourth one-day international, leading the Indian cricket authorities (BCCI) to release a statement claiming the remaining five scheduled games would not go ahead.

The WICB initially denied withdrawing from the tour, but West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo made it clear in the aftermath of their 59-run defeat in Dharamsala that the players considered the trip over.

After meeting to discuss the crisis, the WICB later released a second statement blaming the players and confirming there would be no fifth ODI, no one-off T20 international and no three-Test series.

It read: "Players in the West Indies Squad currently in India represented by Mr. Dwayne Bravo indicated to the WICB that the players have taken a decision to withdraw their services for the remainder of the tour of India.

"As a result of this action by the players the WICB was left with no option but to advise the BCCI that it will no longer be able to provide a West Indies team for the remaining five matches."

An offer to bring out a second-string team was rejected by the BCCI, which has been urged to seek compensation by joint honorary secretary Anurag Thakur.