Indian batter Shubman Gill came out in support of head coach Gautam Gambhir after a tense exchange with The Ovalโ€™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 โ€œjust a groundsman.โ€

Gill downplayed the incident, saying the team had every right to examine the wicket up close.

โ€œ๐‘ฐ๐’•โ€™๐’” ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‡๐’Š๐’“๐’”๐’• ๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’† ๐’˜๐’†โ€™๐’—๐’† ๐’๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’†๐’… ๐’‚๐’• ๐’‚ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’„๐’Œ๐’†๐’• ๐’‡๐’“๐’๐’Ž ๐’„๐’๐’๐’”๐’† ๐’“๐’‚๐’๐’ˆ๐’†. ๐‘พ๐’†โ€™๐’—๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’†๐’ ๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’‚๐’๐’Ž๐’๐’”๐’• ๐’•๐’˜๐’ ๐’Ž๐’๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’”. ๐‘จ ๐’„๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’‰ ๐’‰๐’‚๐’” ๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’š ๐’“๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’• ๐’•๐’ ๐’ˆ๐’ ๐’๐’†๐’‚๐’“ ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’‚๐’”๐’”๐’†๐’”๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’–๐’“๐’‡๐’‚๐’„๐’†,โ€ ๐‘ฎ๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’”๐’‚๐’Š๐’… ๐’…๐’–๐’“๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‘๐’“๐’†-๐’Ž๐’‚๐’•๐’„๐’‰ ๐’‘๐’“๐’†๐’”๐’” ๐’„๐’๐’๐’‡๐’†๐’“๐’†๐’๐’„๐’†.

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 seriesโ€”Headingley, Edgbaston, Lordโ€™s, and Old Trafford.

โ€œ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’˜๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’“ ๐’•๐’๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’ ๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’‚๐’˜๐’‚๐’š. ๐‘จ๐’” ๐’๐’๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‚๐’” ๐’š๐’๐’–’๐’“๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’‚๐’“๐’†๐’‡๐’๐’๐’• ๐’๐’“ ๐’˜๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’“๐’–๐’ƒ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’“ ๐’”๐’‘๐’Š๐’Œ๐’†๐’”, ๐’Š๐’•โ€™๐’” ๐’๐’๐’“๐’Ž๐’‚๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐’Š๐’๐’”๐’‘๐’†๐’„๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’Š๐’„๐’Œ๐’†๐’•. ๐‘ฐ ๐’…๐’๐’โ€™๐’• ๐’–๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‡๐’–๐’”๐’”,โ€ ๐’‰๐’† ๐’‚๐’…๐’…๐’†๐’….

Responding to speculation that Gambhirโ€™s outburst was due to the pressure of India trailing 1-2 in the five-match series, Gill disagreed. He stated that the coachโ€™s reaction was not emotionally driven, but a valid response to an unusual request from the curator.

On-Field Heat Doesnโ€™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.

โ€œ๐‘ถ๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‡๐’Š๐’†๐’๐’…, ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’ˆ๐’†๐’• ๐’Š๐’๐’•๐’†๐’๐’”๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’„๐’‚๐’–๐’”๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’๐’•๐’‰ ๐’•๐’†๐’‚๐’Ž๐’” ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’‘๐’†๐’•๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’—๐’†. ๐‘ฉ๐’–๐’• ๐’๐’๐’„๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’•๐’„๐’‰ ๐’†๐’๐’…๐’”, ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’†โ€™๐’” ๐’‚๐’๐’˜๐’‚๐’š๐’” ๐’Ž๐’–๐’•๐’–๐’‚๐’ ๐’“๐’†๐’”๐’‘๐’†๐’„๐’•,โ€ ๐’‰๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’๐’„๐’๐’–๐’…๐’†๐’….

Also Read: ENG vs IND 2025: Irfan Pathan Wants Big Changes as India Aim to Level Series vs England

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