"Be lenient.." Chris Broad reveals he was asked not to punish India for slow overrate as ICC match referee

Chris Broad remained ICC match referee from 2003 to 2024.

Former International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee and England cricket cricketer Chris Broad has shockingly revealed that he was once ordered to “be lenient” on an Indian team that had fallen behind on over-rate during an international match.  

Despite multiple reminders, the Indian team committed the same offense in the subsequent game, according to Broad.

As ICC Match Referee, Broad oversaw 123 tests, 361 ODIs, and 138 T20Is between 2003 and February 2024. Despite his desire to continue, the ICC organization declined to extend 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 and bring 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 savvier or just keeping the heads below the parapet. I don’t know,” Broad told the Telegraph.

Chris Broad, who played 25 tests and 34 ODIs for England from 1984 to 1989, made his ICC match referee debut in 2003 and worked in the same capacity till 2024.

Chris Broad happy not traveling to “certain parts of the world” after ICC declined to continue with him

Despite his inclination to stay in the position, Broad praised himself for having been a part of a “politically active environment” for almost 20 years. However, he is relieved that he won’t have to travel to “certain parts of the world.”

“I was very happy to carry on. 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,” Broad said on his match referee career coming to an end.

Broad was the match referee when the Sri Lankan team was attacked by terrorists in Pakistan 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 concluded.

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