Gambhir lost his composure after being told to stay 2.5 meters away when he was inspecting the pitch.
Two days ahead of the fifth Test against England at the Oval, visuals of India head coach Gautam Gambhir having a heated confrontation with the chief of Surrey ground staff Lee Fortis has taken the internet by storm.
Gambhir apparently lost his composure after being told to stay two and a half meters away when he was inspecting the pitch.
While interacting with the media, India skipper Shubman Gill on Wednesday (July 30) addressed the controversy, expressing surprise as to why the pitch curator at the Oval had a problem with them taking a look at the wicket from close quarters.
Coaches and captains usually take a look at the surface in the days leading up to a Test to fine-tune their plans and team combinations.
“As long as I remember there was never any instructions like that,” Gill told reporters. “As long as we are wearing rubber spikes or barefooted, you can see the wicket from close quarters. I don’t know what happened yesterday, why the curator didn’t allow it. We have played four matches (in the ongoing tour of England), no one stopped us from doing that. We have played enough cricket in the past and captains and coaches have looked at the pitches from close so many times. I don’t know what the fuss was all about.”
Gill further stated that the coach has every right to take a look at the pitch closely. “I thought it’s just absolutely unnecessary. It’s not the first time that we were having a look at the wicket. We have been here for almost two months. A coach has every right to be able to go close quarters and have a look at the wicket. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that and I actually don’t know why the curator would not allow us to go have a look at the wicket.
“If a pitch curator is going to come and ask us to not look at the wicket, or look at it from 3 meters away, that’s not something that has happened to us before. We have been playing cricket for a long time, as long as we are wearing rubber spikes or barefoot, we are allowed to look at the wicket from close quarters, which is the job of the coach and the captain. So I don’t know why they didn’t allow us to do that,” he said.
In multiple videos that went viral on social media, Gambhir can be heard yelling at Fortis, “You don’t tell us what we need to do”. The chief pitch curator can also be seen telling the India coach that he will raise a complaint with the match referee.
Fortis has been in charge of the pitch at the Oval ion London since 2012, when he was brought on to replace Bill Gordon. Before 2012, he had previously worked as an assistant head groundsman at the Oval.