Former match referee Chris Broad’s revelation he was pressured to be “lenient” on over rate offences by India’s captain Sourav Ganguly has been backed up by former India coach Greg Chappell, who said a powerful figure from India’s board offered to have a ban on Ganguly removed early in his tenure.

Broad revealed the 2005 suggestion that he not sanction India’s captain during a feature interview with the London Telegraph on Tuesday.

His experience came just months before former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya made an offer to then India coach Chappell to “organise” that Ganguly be made available for a tour.

“India were three, four overs down at the end of a game so it constituted a fine,” Broad said. “I got a phone call saying, ‘be lenient, find some time because it’s India’. And it’s

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