Indian batter Shubman Gill came out in support of head coach Gautam Gambhir after a tense exchange with The Oval’s pitch curator, Lee Fortis, on July 29. The confrontation occurred during a training session ahead of the fifth and final Test against England, which begins on July 31.
Fortis reportedly asked the Indian team management to maintain a distance of 2.5 metres while examining the pitch. However, Gambhir was visibly annoyed and was seen arguing with the curator, allegedly calling him “just a groundsman.”
Gill downplayed the incident, saying the team had every right to examine the wicket up close.
“𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆. 𝑾𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔. 𝑨 𝒄𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆,” 𝑮𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆-𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆.
No Pitch Access Issues at Other Venues, Says Gill
Shubman Gill further explained that the incident was surprising because no such restrictions were enforced at the previous venues in the series—Headingley, Edgbaston, Lord’s, and Old Trafford.
“𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚. 𝑨𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒖𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒔, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒔,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅.
Responding to speculation that Gambhir’s outburst was due to the pressure of India trailing 1-2 in the five-match series, Gill disagreed. He stated that the coach’s reaction was not emotionally driven, but a valid response to an unusual request from the curator.
On-Field Heat Doesn’t Affect Off-Field Respect
There have been fiery exchanges between Indian and English players during the series, including an incident where England captain Ben Stokes was visibly upset after Ravindra Jadeja declined a handshake and continued batting to reach his century alongside Washington Sundar.
Despite these incidents, Gill emphasized that the relationship between the teams remains healthy.
“𝑶𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒅.
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