A message early in the morning from the then BCCI president N Srinivasan to Dwayne Bravo swayed West Indies into taking the field for the fourth ODI against India on October 17, 2014 amidst a contract stand-off between the players and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The tour, though, came to an abrupt end as West Indies pulled out after the fourth ODI of the five-match series, with a one-off T20I and three Test matches still remaining.

Bravo, who was leading West Indies at that time, mentioned that the team tried to reach out to WICB president Dave Cameron and West Indies Players' Association chief Wavell Hinds at different times but neither were willing to come down to India and negotiate with the players. Things had reached a simmering point ahead of the fourth ODI and West Indies wouldn't have played the game had Bravo not listened to Srinivasan's advice.

"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. We threatened for the second game, but we played. The [fourth] game we went out (Bravo was accompanied by his team during 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," Bravo, who recently retired from international cricket, told i955fm - a radio station based in Trinidad.

"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. Srinivasan, that 'please take the field'. 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.

"But I was more concerned about the players' future more than anything else, because it was a serious decision to not play and walk away from the tour. All of us could have been banned for life. So by taking the opportunity and listening to the bosses of BCCI, that was one way to ensure that we are protected," Bravo said.

Elaborating on how the controversy reached its crescendo, Bravo said Hinds was to blame as he had not communicated the details of the new contracts to the players, who argued that the new agreement brought down their match fees by as much as 75 per cent. Following a WIPA general meeting in January 2014, Bravo and other senior players like Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were explained of a plan regarding the implementation of a professional league system for which the team had to take a salary cut. While they agreed to it, Bravo mentioned that the figures weren't discussed then.

"The next time we hear from WIPA, or see anything about our contract or new figures, was in October, when the team was already in India. When the team arrived in India - I was already there playing Champions League for Chennai Super Kings - couple of the players message me, 'skipper, did you see the new contract?' I said, no. When you look at it, you see, straight across the board, the players' salary was cut by 75 percent. That's where it really, really happened, where everything break down. I straightaway get on to Wavell Hinds. He says, 'Bravo, tell the players do not sign the contract, it's not still cast in stone, do not sign the contract'.

"That is the only regret I have, that I did not record these things. We said to him 'who gave you the rights to negotiate our new contracts without discussing it with any player?' He said he talk to some players. We said, 'who you talk to?' He said he talked to Denesh Ramdin and Darren Bravo. Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin both stand up and say, 'Wavell, that's a lie. That never took place.' Wavell Hinds had nothing to say.

"Then, his next excuse was he sent the information to Samuel Badree months ago and it was Samuel Badree's responsibility to relay the message to the players. Samuel Badree said to him, in his face, "Wavell Hinds I am a cricketer. It is your job [and] that's why we elect you as president." You can't send a player who is on tour, playing cricket, a 90-page contract, saying to go through it [and] relay the message to the players. That's where it all break down, where it all went wrong," revealed Bravo.

In the aftermath of West Indies' pull-out, BCCI had threatened damages amounting to USD 42 million while the fourth ODI in Dharamsala also happened to be Bravo's last 50-over assignment for West Indies. Mentioning that the Indian cricket board was supportive of the West Indies players during the controversy-marred series, Bravo said: "It was a big damage. Obviously a hefty bill. To me my concern was players and our contracts.

"They were very supportive of all of us. 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 concluded.