Ahead of the fifth India vs England Test match at the Oval, all the talking points are about the hosts' head coach Gautam Gambhir's spat with Oval Pitch curator Lee Fortis. The two had an animated conversation, which also saw the former pointing a finger towards the latter. Cricketer-turned-expert Irfan Pathan has spoken about the matter and has taken the India coach's side.
Notably, images also circulated about England coach Brendon McCullum standing on the side of the Oval pitch discussing with pitch curator Lee Fortis. That irked a lot of Indian experts and fans who felt it was an injustice on the part of Fortis to show anger at Gambhir.
“When Gautam Gambhir went to look at the pitch, he wore shoes without spikes. That does not cause any damage. That is okay according to the rules. But the curator of The Oval has had a way of being rude with many captains and coaches of overseas teams. This is not the first incident,” Pathan said on his YouTube channel.
“But it is on in the media of making Gambhir a villain. This has been going on for a long time. The curator telling him to go away from the pitch is not acceptable. I will not accept this. How will you plan without seeing the pitch? It is a controversy for nothing,” Irfan added.
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What exactly happened between Gautam Gambhir & Lee Fortis?
The Indian coach's angry exchange with Fortis and his statement, “You don’t tell us what we need to do,” was caught on camera and went viral.
“When we went to see the pitch, we were asked by someone to keep a 2.5-metre distance. This was surprising. The Test would be in a few days, and we were wearing joggers. So it felt a bit odd. We have all been on the ground enough, and we have played so much cricket. Curators are possessive about the ground and the square, but they need to understand that they are speaking to highly skilled and intelligent people,” Kotak explained.
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“If you see, no bowler is wearing spikes. We also know the ground shouldn’t be damaged. End of the day, it’s a cricket pitch … it’s not an antique that is 200 years old and can be broken. Today, we were wearing shoes with rubber soles, and in a day, a batsman will be sliding to survive a run-out or a bowler will be sliding there to stop the ball,” Kotak added.
The fifth and final Test match between India vs England will be played on Thursday, July 31. The hosts are leading the series 2-1.
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