The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will meet in Hyderabad today to decide on the way forward following the decision by the West Indies cricket team to abandon their tour of India last week.
While that meeting is being staged, the WICB directors meet at the Accra Beach Hotel, Barbados, in an emergency meeting to discuss the issue. Given the time difference between the two countries, it is likely that when WICB president Dave Cameron and his men come together, the BCCI's decision would already be known.
President of the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB), Azim Bassarath, a director on the WICB, and Baldath Mahabir, will represent T&T at the meeting. The T&TCB met on Saturday in an emergency executive meeting and Bassarath said yesterday that his Board did not take a position on the matter. "We will take a position after the meeting in Barbados."
Sources in India say the BCCI is unlikely to waste time in a battle that may see them losing some US $65 million from the West Indies fiasco. The WICB is a cash-strapped organization and according to one insider, it makes no sense going after them because they would not be able to pay up.
The BCCI can hit the WICB since the Indian team is due to tour the Caribbean four times during the current Future Tours Programme (FTP) which ends in 2023. The WICB stands to earn substantial revenue, especially from television rights and the BCCI may look to freeze bi-lateral relations with them, in order to make them feel the pinch.
Two members of the BCCI, secretary Sanjay Patel and joint secretary Anurag Thakur have called for action on players from the Caribbean who play in the IPL. However, although the BCCI owns the IPL, they have partners in the set-up and they would have to weigh their options, when it comes to upsetting their financial partners.
The WICB has made it clear that they were not happy with the stand taken by the players to abort the tour and even if the BCCI allows the players to take part in IPL Eight, the WICB could well refuse to give them No-objection certificates, which are needed for the players to take part in foreign leagues. If the players refuse and still go on and play, they would have effectively ended their West Indian careers.
Going into today's meeting of the WICB directors, WICB president Dave Cameron said that he has not a clue, as to how the Indians would treat with the matter. In addition to appeasing the BCCI the WICB directors are expected today to come up with a plan to deal with the current payment structure impasse between the players and WIPA.