BCCI refuses West Indies’ training camp ahead of the tour

BCCI refuses West Indies’ training camp: It has been observed that BCCI was at odds with West Indies coming to India earlier this month.

With the West Indies tour of India starting from October 4, the West Indies’ team management had planned at visiting India well in advance to enhance their game for the sub-continent conditions. However, BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) refused the same, telling their opponents to train in Dubai.

Stuart Law, coach of West Indies cricket team, was vocal against the denial from the Indian board. Law was of the opinion that his team had planned to visit India on September 10 in a bid to get acclimatize to the conditions. But their plans didn’t saw the daylight.

Speaking to The Times of India, Law let out the details of the whole disagreement. “We tried to get to India but we were told that there weren’t any places available for us. It would have been nice to be in India. There would have been less travel”, said the 49-year old Australian.

“The ICC Global Academy said they have cricket going on and thus offered us to come over here. But what you have to take we have got. We are enjoying ourselves”, he further added on how they ended up training in Dubai.

Law cited the CPL (Caribbean Premier League) as the major reason behind the scheduling of this camp. With the tournament just finishing on September 16, most of the players were in the T20 mode and needed time to adjust to the demands of playing Test cricket in India.

The players are just back from CPL. The camp is to get them back into the red-ball mode and get used to the heat. It’s very hard to keep the boys together as they live on different islands. We need a window”, he further added.

On the other hand, BCCI defended their stand of not allowing West Indies to prepare so far ahead of the tour because of the the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, India’s premier 50-over tournament. With the addition of nine new teams, the teams in the Indian domestic circuit have risen to 37, which has made scheduling and logistics of these tournament an onerous task.

“We have so many teams this season. To accommodate them at a time when the domestic season has got underway would always be difficult”, said a BCCI source.

Below are some of the Twitter reactions regarding the imminent West Indies’ tour of India: