NEW DELHI: West Indies chief selector and former captain Clive Lloyd has apologised for the national team’s abrupt withdrawal from their tour of India because of a pay dispute between their cricket board and the players’ union.

“I want to talk about the West Indies,” Lloyd said at a televised cricket discussion here on Saturday night. “I apologise for the team leaving. Some guys decided to stop this tour and I think it is a mistake.”

Lloyd hoped relations between the two cricket boards would not suffer.

“I did not want it to end like this. It’s unfortunate we left, and I hope the damage is not irreparable,” added Lloyd, who took charge of the selection committee this year.

The West Indies team abandoned the tour after the fourth One-day international in Dharamsala on Friday, with one more ODI, a Twenty20 and three Tests remaining.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) replaced the abandoned matches with five one-dayers against Sri Lanka next month, but still stands to lose over $50 million in revenue.

The BCCI called for an emergency meeting on Tuesday to decide on the issue of claiming damages and raising the matter with the International Cricket Council.

BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel also indicated the board is considering severing bilateral cricket ties with the West Indies.

“The working committee members will have a dialogue on this and after that we may consider to not pursue further [Future Tours Programs] with West Indies,” Patel said. “I had a very hectic time and this was an unprecedented decision. We will discuss all these at the working committee.”

Meanwhile, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said the West Indian cricketers would lose popularity after abandoning the tour.

“Whether it was the West Indies board, or the players association, or the players themselves that were responsible is not known,” Gavaskar wrote in the Times of India. “But cricket has suffered a blow to its image and the West Indians.”

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2014