Gautam Gambhir involved in verbal altercation with Oval curator

LONDON: India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday, engaged in a verbal spat with Lee Fortis, the head curator of The Oval, which is set to host their fifth and final Test against England from July 31 to August 4.

The incident occurred during India’s optional training session at the venue when their support staff arrived before players to inspect the pitch, while Gambhir, accompanied by assistant coaches, joined them later.

According to the international media, Fortis was not pleased with the Indian players for using the majority of the main square for training and was also concerned about them getting too close to the pitch.

As a result, Fortis was in a conversation with India’s assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak when Gambhir intervened, and later the groundsman was heard telling the India head coach not to ‘swear’ and warned him of lodging a complaint to the match referee.

Meanwhile, Kotak and Fortis continued to talk by a side net when Gambhir intervened again, directing his assistant to ‘not get into a discussion’ with Fortis. He further told the curator that he could go and report to the match referee.

Fortis, in response, cautioned Gambhir again, who responded by repeatedly telling him that he is ‘just a groundsman’ while pointing a finger at him.

"You stop it. You don't tell us what we need to do. You don't tell us what we need to do, okay. You don't need to tell us. You don't tell any of my squad what we need to do. You have no right to tell us. You're just a groundsman, you stay in your capacity. You are just a groundsman, nothing beyond. You are just a groundsman."

Following Gambhir’s outburst, the duo went their separate ways, with the India head coach returning to supervise his team’s net session.

Fortis later interacted with the media and labelled Gautam Gambhir as ‘touchy’, while not revealing the specifics of their spat.

“You saw what he was like in the morning. He’s a bit touchy,” said Fortis.

“There’s no side of the story. You’ll have to ask him that,” he added when probed about why Gambhir got upset.