Broad was in charge of 123 Tests, 361 ODIs and 138 T20Is as match referee.
Former England cricketer and ICC match referee Chris Broad has made a shocking revelation, claiming that he was once asked to “be lenient" on an Indian team that had fallen behind on over-rate during an international fixture.
The 68-year-old said he obliged, but the Indian team repeated the same offence in the following game despite his warnings.
Between 2003 and February 2024, Broad was in charge of 123 Tests, 361 ODIs and 138 T20Is as match referee, and despite his willingness to continue, the global cricket body didn’t renew his contract.
“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,” Broad said while speaking to The Telegraph.
"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.
Chris Broad feels it was quite a feat for him to be part of a “politically active environment" for nearly two decades. While he wanted to continue in 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 remarked.
Notably, Chris Broad was caught up in the middle of a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore back 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," Broad said.