File Pic: Former India head coach Greg Chappell

NEW DELHI: Former India coach Greg Chappell has reignited debate over the BCCI’s influence in world cricket, backing ex-ICC match referee Chris Broad’s claim that Indian administrators have long used their power to manipulate outcomes. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!In an explosive revelation to the Sydney Morning Herald, Chappell recalled how former BCCI and ICC chief Jagmohan Dalmiya had offered to “reduce Sourav Ganguly’s suspension” at the start of his coaching tenure in 2005.

“Dalmiya offered to have his suspension reduced so that he could go to Sri Lanka at the start of my tenure,” Chappell said. “I said no, I don’t want to rot the system; he has to do his time. Dalmiya seemed okay for him to miss.” The incident, according to Chappell, occurred just before India’s 2005 tri-series in Sri Lanka — marking the start of a turbulent period that also saw Ganguly dropped from the team and a public rift erupted between the two.Chappell’s revelation comes on the heels of Chris Broad’s bombshell interview with The Telegraph (London), in which the former England cricketer alleged that he was once told over the phone to “be lenient” on Ganguly’s India team for a slow over-rate offence. “I got a phone call saying, ‘be lenient, find some time because it’s India.’ So we had to find time and bring it down below the threshold,” Broad said. “The next game, it happened again — and I was told, ‘just do him.’ There were politics involved right from the start.”Broad’s claims paint a picture of behind-the-scenes interference in cricket’s judicial processes, and Chappell’s remarks have added further weight to those accusations. Reflecting on the sport’s power dynamics, Broad warned that India’s financial clout had effectively placed them “in control of the ICC.”“India got all the money and have now taken over the ICC,” Broad said. “It’s a much more political position now than it ever has been.”