With the international cricketing calander underway in full swing, the T20 world champions, Team India are preparing to take on Australia in a five-match series, starting October 29. Following the series, the Men
in Blue head back to their country where they are scheduled to take on South Africa, whereas the team from Down Under will take on England in the highly-anticipated Ashes series.
Amidst this, former England cricketer and ICC Match Referee Chris Broad made shocking revelation around his days on the cricketing field. In one of the incidents, Broad spoke at length about how the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has moreover taken over the International Cricket Council (ICC).
I was told not to punish India for slow over-rate: Chris Broad makes shocking claim
Recalling one of the matches where he stood as match referee while speaking in an interview, Chris Broad claimed that the sport has become significantly more political now than in his early days as an official. He further alleged that top positions in the ICC have become much more politically charged moreover with the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) inclusion.
"India got all the money and have now taken over the ICC so in many ways. I'm pleased I'm not around because it's a much more political position now than it ever has been," Broad told the Telegraph. Furthermore while narrating the slow over-rate episode in relevance to the above conversation, Broad revealed how the phone call effectively forced him to be lenient with Team India.
"India were three, four overs down at the end of a game so it constituted a fine. I got a phone call saying, 'be lenient, find some time because it's India'. And it's like, right, OK. So we had to find some time, brought it down below the threshold. The very next game, exactly the same thing happened,” he continued. “He [Sourav Ganguly] didn't listen to any of the hurry-ups and so I phoned and said, 'what do you want me to do now?' and I was told 'just do him'. So there were politics involved, right from the start. A lot of the guys now are either politically more savvy or just keeping the head below the parapet. I don't know," Broad claimed.
While serving as the Match Referee, Broad was in charge of 123 Tests, 361 ODIs and 138 T20Is between 2003 and February 2024. Although, he did confirm his intentions to continue, the global cricketing body didn’t renew his contract.
