India have taken over ICC, much more of a political position now: Chris Broad

Former member of the International Cricket Council Elite Panel of Match Referees and ex-England cricketer Chris Broad has lambasted the ICC for favouring the Indian team or the BCCI, purely because of the money they bring in. He says that the BCCI and its allies have taken over the control of the ICC operations, and there is a lot of politics involved due to their presence.

He further spilled the beans on an incident when he was the match referee and was asked to not impose a slow over-rate on the Indian team, simply because they bought in a lot of money to the ICC. Furthermore, Broad also exposed Sourav Ganguly, the then ICC chairman, over influencing the decisions which were supposed to be solely taken by him.

“We [match referees] were supported by Vince van der Bijl (ICC umpires manager) while he was in position because he came from a cricketing background, but once he left, the management became a lot weaker. India got all the money and have now taken over the ICC 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 said in conversation with The Telegraph.

"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 - the then ICC chairman] 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 said in the interview.

Broad is no more a part of the panel of match referees and has been away since his last in 2024 during a game T20I game between England and Pakistan at The Oval, London. Chris Broad, who is also the father of England veteran pacer Stuart Broad, himself played 59 international matches for the English side, scoring more than 3000 runs, averaging close to 40.