There were enough signals of the players' protest on the ground with the whole team unusually standing behind captain Dwayne Bravo at the toss. The team entered the HPCA Stadium at 1 pm for the match, scheduled to start at 2.30 pm and practiced for not more than half hour.
All the drama, however, unfolded at the team hotel. Around three hours before the match, Thakur rushed to the team hotel to convince the West Indies players to play the match.
The players relented after they were told that 'you are on your own if you decide against playing the match and HPCA is no more your host'.
"It did not seem the match between would happen as late 12 pm. The West Indies had decided to type their pull out until Thakur intervened. He spoke to the whole team including Bravo, support staff (Richie Richardson, Curtly Ambrose) and others. Everyone was sitting there," a source, who was privy to the meeting told PTI minutes before the start of the match.