Gargi Raut at The Oval
As the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy hangs in the balance, ahead of the final Test match at The Oval in London, a non-cricket issue has taken up the headlines. In the matchday-minus-two practice session, the Indian team head coach Gautam Gambhir was captured having a heated discussion with the head groundsman Lee Fortis.
An hour into the practice session when players were engaged in an intense net session there was a slight disturbance in the usual proceedings and Gambhir was captured giving an animated reply to the pitch curator. He was seen pointing fingers and was heard by many saying something along the lines of: “Don’t tell me what to do. I know my job.”
Speculations are that Gambhir was stopped from going close to the pitch to which he reacted. The Indian cricket team is all set to present its side at the press conference.
Sources say the curator has had multiple run-ins with visiting teams in the past. And the Indian team is extremely upset with what happened.
“When we were having a look at the wicket, they had sent a man to send a message for us to stay 2.5m away from the pitch. We were wearing joggers,” Sitanshu Kotak, India’s batting coach told reporters.
“We know curators are possessive about the square. What he (head groundsman) said about the head coach is his opinion and I don’t want to comment. We did nothing wrong,” he added.
“People (Indian coaching staff) are highly skilled and intelligent. None of the bowlers were even wearing spikes. You can be protective about the square but not arrogant. It is not an antique that you can’t touch. He said we are trying to grow the grass but we were wearing joggers so we didn’t see the problem.
“”He yelled at the Indian support staff when they were getting ice box, it hardly weighs 10 kgs. The way he spoke, it was a bit arrogant. Everyone knows curator at The Oval is not the easiest person to deal with,” Kotak said.
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