How West Indies broke the spirit of cricket

In the good old days, when television in India meant watching only Doordarshan, one line which would now and then stare you in the face was "rukawat ke liye khed hai" (sorry for the interruption).

It was a huge irritant, but in the absence of an alternative channel, you still could not turn off the TV set.

When West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo said at the toss in Dharamsala that it's "time to make a decision", there was a sense of shock and disbelief that the players were cutting short the series.

This series was the Indian public's last chance to see their heroes at home before the tour to Australia and eventually the ICC World Cup next year. For the Indian ODI players, this was a chance to play themselves into form - which Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan did in the truncated series.

There could have been good opportunities for players like Cheteshwar Pujara as well, with three Tests to be played subsequently.

But in one fell swoop, the West Indies players dumped cricket over a monetary dispute with their own Board, which had been brewing since the first day of the tour.

For cricketers to boycott a series over a domestic pay dispute needs to be condemned. They've done it before - in 2009, the entire first team sat out of a home Test series against Bangladesh, and the replacement team was soundly thrashed by the bottom-feeders of Test cricket.

In an age where strong trade unions around the world have been brought down to their knees, if Bravo thought he was winning a case for his players, he is foolish.

As it were, cricket is slowly losing its reputation as a gentleman's game and Bravo & Co. have only done more damage to the sport. This is not like abandoning a tour because there is some player safety issue and you do not want to take the field, or there has been a terror attack nearby and the players are shaken.

The Caribbeans have torn the fabric which wove Indian and West Indies cricket together for decades.

When an athlete takes up a sport, it is out of sheer love. Once you do well at a certain level and then graduate to the international level, commercial interests come into play. There is nothing wrong with that as professional athletes need to make a living and they have a small window in which to maximise their earnings.

But what is shocking in this episode is how Bravo and company have not spared any thought for the fans and the public in India.

Everyone knows the clout which India has in global cricket - on and off the field. Having agreed to come to India without signing a contract, the Windies players should have played the series even if they were unhappy. There is a precedent - Sri Lankan cricketers played for months without pay when their Board was cash-strapped a couple of years ago. They raised their voices but a boycott was not on the agenda.

For all talk of being hardcore professionals, if the West Indies players wanted to win hearts in India, they should have told everyone they were playing for free. At least that way, they would have won a million hearts and become instant heroes.

What they have done will hurt them badly. Their standard of cricket is not the same anymore, and to punch India in the face like this and walk away will have huge ramifications as more than a dozen players from various islands figure in the cash-rich Indian Premier League.

The West Indies players seem to have forgotten that it's the IPL which gives them maximum money and not their own contracts with the WICB.

The injured Chris Gayle and Sunil Narine, whose action was deemed illegal, were not part of this team, but from Bravo to Dwayne Smith, Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard - each one could suffer.

There is understandable outrage among BCCI officials. From Sanjay Patel to Anurag Thakur, each one has spoken out against the West Indies. Now that the BCCI will be taking up the West Indies "walkout" matter at its emergent working committee meeting in Hyderabad on Tuesday, you can expect stringent action.

To be sure, the BCCI has lost a lot commercially as well. There is a lot of money riding on a home series from TV rights to sponsorship deals.

The Indian Board has done well to call Sri Lanka over for a full ODI series, but nobody is going to forgive the West Indies team for insulting India as a host nation.

This kind of trade union bravado which Bravo & Co. have shown is only going to hurt them in the long run. If cricket is commerce, then be sure it's the WICB which will finally call the shots with the players.