Final Test spices up as Gambhir has a go at the Oval curator

Manchester: Combative India head coach Gautam Gambhir had a heated argument with The Oval’s chief curator Lee Fortis during Tuesday’s practice session, an incident that is certain to add more fuel to the series that’s already on the boil.

Soon after arriving at the ground which will host the series finale starting Thursday, Gambhir and the rest of his support staff proceeded to the square to check out the pitch. At the other end, England’s head coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key too surveyed the surface before both parties met mid-pitch to exchange pleasantries.

Tempers flew a few moments later. Apparently, Fortis instructed the India team support staff to view the pitch from beyond the perimeter and told them also not to drag the cooling box on the square as it could cause damage. Gambhir, who was watching the batters at the nets and was briefed about it and Fortis’ threat to report the incident, then had a go at the curator with swearwords thrown in liberally.

“You report whatever you want,” Gambhir was heard saying in videos that were widely circulated on social media although DH can’t independently verify the authenticity of the audio. “Go, (swearword) from here. Go tell him to (swearword) report it to the match referee. Don’t tell us what we need to do. You don’t tell anyone of us what to do. You’re just a groundsman, stay in your capacity.

‘Just a groundsman’

“You’re just a groundsman, nothing beyond that, you’re just a groundsman. Stay in your capacity,” thundered a finger-pointing Gambhir before batting coach Sitanshu Kotak tried to calm the situation by ushering Fortis away.

Kotak, who addressed the media following the fracas, said while curators are protective of the playing surface, he found Fortis and his team’s behaviour awkward and arrogant. “When we went to see the wicket, the coaches were standing there. They sent a man who told us to stand 2.5 metres away, which was a little surprising because it was a cricket wicket. The day after, there is going to be a 5-day Test match and we were standing wearing joggers. So that was a little awkward.

“We all have been on the ground, played so much cricket. We all know that curators are a little overprotective or a little possessive about the square and ground. But I think just looking at the wicket with the rubber spike, just the day after there is a Test match there. There is nothing wrong. Curators also need to understand that the people they are talking to are highly skilled and intelligent people. So, for example, if you go on the ground now where we practised, you won’t even see that any bowlers in the outfield would have marked with the spikes. We keep spraying.

“So, when you are working with very intelligent and highly skilled people, if you sound a bit arrogant or if you come across like, you know. You can be protective but at the end of the day, it’s a cricket pitch. It’s not an antique piece where you can’t touch because otherwise it’s 200 years old and it can be broken.”

Kotak said Gambhir lost his cool when the support staff members were told not to carry the cooling box on the square.