The ongoing West Indies tour of India was cancelled on Friday following a pay dispute between the Caribbean players and the West Indies Cricket Board. At short notice, Sri Lanka have in principle accepted the request of the Board of Control for Cricket in India to play five one-days between November 1-15. The fifth one-day international between the West Indies and India scheduled to be played in Kolkata on Monday has been cancelled, as have the following T20 and three Test matches.

The West Indies players will fly back home at their own expense, reported NDTV. They will not be reimbursed for their tickets.

There were whispers that the tour would be called off before the start of the fourth one-day but the BCCI had got the West Indies team to play in Dharamshala on Friday. The strike seemed to be looming even before the first ODI had even begun on October 8.

The West Indies Cricket Board said that the reason for its team's withdrawal is an "internal" matter. The BCCI is planning to go to the International Cricket Council and sue for damages.  "The WICB's inability to resolve internal issues with its players and allowing the same to affect an ongoing bilateral series does not reflect well on any of those involved," the BCCI said in a press release. The withdrawal had "given little thought to the future of the game, the players and the long standing relations between the BCCI and WICB".

The pay dispute has been raging ever since the West Indies Cricket Board and West Indies Players Association signed a new bargaining agreement and memorandum of understanding  on September 19. There was a disagreement over the distribution of sponsorship money. The dispute escalated after Wavell Hinds refused to resign as president of the West Indies Player's Association.

Here is how social-media users saw the situation.