BCCI drops $42 million penalty imposed on WICB
BCCI president Shashank Manohar has said that the $41.97 million penalty imposed on the WICB for abandoning the 2014 tour of India mid-way by the previous BCCI administration has been waived. He also said that West Indies will tour India in 2017 to complete the 2014 series.
According to Manohar, the issue was sorted out when the WICB agreed to tour India in 2017 to play the unfinished series. He also said that the decision was taken when the WICB spoke to the BCCI officials last year, before scheduling India’s tour of the West Indies this summer. This is the first time the BCCI has clarified its stand on the matter.
Manohar spoke to ESPNcricinfo regarding the issue and said, "That is now sorted out because they are going to come back and play here next year. They have to complete those games. That was a claim raised by the board. We would be satisfied by them coming and playing here."
The BCCI president also indicated that the schedule will be finalized by the end of May. WICB president Dave Cameron said, "We stand by whatever Mr. Manohar says."
In October 2014, West Indies captain ODI captain Dwayne Bravo led the players to boycott the rest of the tour and returned home after the fourth ODI against India at Dharamsala. The tour was originally scheduled for five ODIs, three Test matches, and one T20I.
The then BCCI administration called the abandonment of the series a monumental disaster and slapped punitive damages on the WICB. The BCCI also suspended all bilateral tours between the two nations till the issue was resolved.
However, the first hint that the relationship between the two boards was getting better came at the end of last year when Cameron issued a media release stating that India would play a four-match Test series in the Caribbean in July- August 2016 as listed in the ICC’s Future Tours Program. Though, the WICB president did not mention anything about the punitive claims earlier.
Cameron talked positively last month about the BCCI’s claim and said, "We will do a joint media release for you as soon as both boards are ready."
It has been an outstanding year of West Indies cricket as they have won all the ICC tournaments held this year, First, the West Indies Under-19 team won the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh and then the West Indies men’s and women’s team won the ICC T20 World Cup in India.