Chappell Backs Ex-ICC Referee's Allegations, Drags Ex-BCCI Chief Into Row

Former Indian cricket team head coach Greg Chappell supported Chris Broad's stunning allegations against the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Senior match referee Broad alleged that he was pressurised to be 'lenient' towards then-India captain Sourav Ganguly for slow over-rate offences. Chappell backed up the allegations and said that during his tenure, former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya offered to get Ganguly's suspension reduced so that he could be available for a series against Sri Lanka. However, Chappell claimed that he turned down the offer.

“Dalmiya offered to have his suspension reduced so that he could go to Sri Lanka at the start of my tenure,” Chappell said in a conversation with Sydney Morning Herald.

“I said no, I don't want to rort the system, he has to do his time. Dalmiya seemed OK for him to miss.”

Ganguly was first fined by Chris Broad after the third ODI between India and Pakistan in Jamshedpur in April 2005. He was banned for six matches after he repeated his offence during the same series.

However, the ban was reduced to four games after an official appeal. Ganguly was later handed another two-match ban by Clive Lloyd for his second over-rate offence in September that year.

During his tenure as head coach, Chappell had a massive fallout with Ganguly.

Earlier, Broad spoke at length about the BCCI's growing influence on world cricket and narrated the incident when he was asked to be 'lenient' towards Ganguly.

"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.

"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," Broad claimed.

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