Bravo reflects on contracts fallout from 2014 abandoned India tour

Dwayne Bravo, who was the Windies captain for that series, said that a 3 a.m. message from the then BCCI boss, N. Srinivasan, convinced the side to take the field.

Published : Nov 17, 2018 11:23 IST , new delhi

Bravo revealed that the decision to leave the 2014 India tour was unanimous.
Bravo revealed that the decision to leave the 2014 India tour was unanimous.
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Bravo revealed that the decision to leave the 2014 India tour was unanimous.

Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says the BCCI “offered to pay” players who threatened to pull out of the 2014 ODI series in India in the aftermath of a contracts fallout with the West Indies cricket board (now Cricket West Indies).

Bravo, who was the Windies captain for that series, said that a 3 a.m. message from the then BCCI boss, N. Srinivasan, convinced the side to take the field.

"I remember fully well before we said we weren't going to play the first game, 3 am in the morning, I get a message from the BCCI boss, the old one, Mr [N] Srinivasan, that "please take the field," Bravo told i955fm , a Trinidad-based radio station.

"I listened to him - and woke up at 6 am to tell the team that we have to play. And everyone was against playing. Everyone thought that I panicked and chickened out and all these things," he added.

India and West Indies were halfway through the fourth ODI of a five-match series, in Dharamsala when news emerged that the West Indies Cricket Board had decided to call off the rest of the tour.

The 35-year-old all-rounder, who recently announced retirement from international cricket, said the Indian board was 'very supportive' of the visiting side.

"Yeah, they understood, of course. Actually, they even offered to pay us whatever we were losing. We were like, 'we don't want you to pay us. We need our board to sort out our contracts.'

"The BCCI was very, very supportive and that is one of the reasons why most of us were still able to continue playing without any serious, serious problems taking place," Bravo said.

The Chennai Super Kings' star revealed that the decision to leave the tour was unanimous. "Collectively as a team, we decided what to do. I listened to every single player. Apart from one player, everyone signed on a piece of paper, that they were all in support of leaving the tour. But we did not just decide to walk away from the tour.

"There were different times when we tried to reach out to both our WIPA president [Wavell Hinds] and the cricket president [Dave Cameron, Cricket West Indies president]. So we threatened [to pull out] from the first game, but we played.

“The (fourth) game we went out (the whole team accompanied Bravo to the toss), so it was just a message and a signal, trying to let them know that we are not happy with whatever is going on.”

Windies, which recently toured India for two Tests, five ODIs and three T20Is, was beaten convincingly in all three formats by the Virat Kohli-led side.

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