The Caribbean has waited with bated breath to find out the outcome of the row between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).Well fans can go about their Friday afternoon cool down rather than wait for news from the 2pm press conference today because both parties yesterday failed to come to a decision concerning the re-establishment of ties.
Cricketing ties have broken down between the two bodies after the West Indies team aborted their tour of India last October due to a payment structure dispute with the WICB. The team led by Dwayne Bravo left the tour after the fourth one day international in the mountains of Dharamshala. At that point the Indians were leading the series 2-1 with one match to play at Kolkata. The WICB did not send a team for the three-Test series and Sri Lankan filled the voice by playing a limited overs series against the Indians.
After the debacle the BCCI requested a payment of US$41.97m from the WICB in damages and suspended all bi-lateral tours between the two nations. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is currently keeping their annual general meeting in Barbados and the WICB and BCCI used the opportunity to meet yesterday to discuss the problem. It was the first time that both parties met after the aborted tour.
T&T Guardian approached secretary of the BCCI, Anurag Thakur Singh at the Barbados Hilton yesterday and he said :"We just held the meeting with the West Indies Board and there is nothing we can report. No decision has been made, so we are going to look at helping West Indies cricket but no decision has been made as to the aborted tour "
Earlier this month vice-president of the WICB, Emannual Nanton said that there will be something to report positively on the situation about at the end of this month but the Indians are singing a different song.It is understood that the BCCI has some requests that was put before the WICB and the directors who are here in Barbados will have to make a decision as to whether they abide or it, or allow the stalemate to continue.
The Indian cricket team is due to tour the West Indies next year and if the situation is not resolved in a timely manner, the WICB could lose out big time in terms of profits for such a lucrative tour.