Former ICC Match Referee Makes Shocking Claim: ‘I Was Told Not To Punish India For Slow Over Rate’ | Cricket News

Chris Broad (right) interacts with Ravi Shastri. (File Photo/PTI)

Former England cricketer and ICC Match Referee Chris Broad has made a stunning claim that he was once asked to “be lenient” on an Indian team that had fallen behind on over-rate during an international fixture. Broad said he obliged but the Indian team was guilty of committing the same offense in the following game despite repeated reminders.

Between 2003 and February 2024, Broad was in charge of 123 Tests, 361 ODIs and 138 T20Is as ICC Match Referee and despite his willingness to continue, the global cricket body didn’t renew his contract.

In an interview to The Telegraph, Broad said, “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 [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,” he added.

Broad lauded himself for having been part of an “politically active environment” for nearly two decades but despite his willingness to continue into the role, he’s happy that he won’t have to travel to “certain parts of the world”.

“I was very happy to carry on,” Broad said. “But for 20 years, I dodged a lot of bullets, both politically and physically. I look back and I think, ‘you know, 20 years is quite a long time to be doing that job’.”

“I’m pleased not to be travelling to certain parts of the world. And I was always someone who believed in right and wrong and in certain parts of the world it’s a bit like the River Ganges – right and wrong are so far apart and there’s a lot of dirty water in between them that you have to deal with, so I think as someone who comes from a right and wrong perspective, to last 20 years in that politically active environment is a pretty good effort,” he added.

Broad was caught up in the middle of a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009.

“Still to this day, if an unexpected loud bang happens it makes me jump. And after it I was much more conscious of making sure that security was at the highest level. Undoubtedly the terrorist incident changed my perception of what the role should be,” he said.