ESPNcricinfo learned the groundsman was concerned by the presence of a number of Indian players and support staff on the square
Nagraj Gollapudi29-Jul-20250:35
Watch – Gambhir’s heated exchange with Surrey groundsman
India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir was involved in a heated argument with the Surrey head groundsman Lee Fortis, two days ahead of the fifth and final Test between India and England at The Oval. Gambhir was seen wagging his finger at Fortis, and repeatedly telling him he was “just a groundsman”. Fortis warned the former India batter he would report him to the ICC match referee if he continued to “swear” at him.India arrived in London, having kept the series alive after drawing the fourth Test in Manchester, and had an optional training session on Tuesday. As has been the norm, members of the support staff arrived early before the players and Gambhir, along with the assistant coaches, joined them.Although Fortis did not divulge details of his run-in with Gambhir when questioned by reporters, ESPNcricinfo understands he was not happy with the Indian team using the majority of the main square for their training session. He was also concerned by a few players and coaches getting too close to the pitch.India’s assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak was talking to Fortis when Gambhir intervened. Fortis was heard telling Gambhir not to “swear” and that if he continued to do so, he would “have to report to the match referee.” Kotak and Fortis continued to chat by a side net. Gambhir asked Kotak to “not get into a discussion” with Fortis and that he could go and report to the match referee.When Fortis cautioned him again, Gambhir was heard saying: “You stop it. You don’t tell us what we need to do. You don’t tell us what we need to do, okay. You don’t need to tell us. You don’t tell any of my squad what we need to do. You have no right to tell us. You’re just a groundsman, you stay in your capacity. You are just a groundsman, nothing beyond. You are just a groundsman.”The main concern for Fortis was that with plenty of cricket still to be played at The Oval this summer – stretching into early September – he needs to protect the pitches as much as possible. When he pointed this out to the visitors, India’s support staff told him it would be difficult to stay off the area around the three practice pitches provided for training.5:43
Kotak on what led to the altercation
‘It’s a cricket pitch, not an antique’Kotak later said they felt “awkward” at being asked to stay a certain distance from the pitch despite not wearing spikes.”When some of us coaches went to see the wicket, a member of the groundstaff said stay away at least 2.5 metres, which was a little surprising,” Kotak said. “Because it is the pitch, the match is starting day after, it will be a five-day Test, and we’re standing in our joggers, so we felt a little awkward.”Kotak did not expand on the exchange between Gambhir and Fortis. “[We were] just looking at the wicket, with rubber spikes, day after there’s a Test match there, there’s nothing wrong [with that]. Curators also need to understand the people they are talking to, they are highly skilled and intelligent. For example, if you go on the ground now where we practised, you won’t even see that any bowler in the outfield would have marked with his spikes. That all comes from the head coach. We try and see this ground also doesn’t get damaged.”Kotak hinted tempers might have flared due to the tone of communication. “When you’re working with very intelligent and highly-skilled people, if you sound a bit arrogant or if you come across like… you can be protective, but at the end of the day it is a cricket pitch. It is not an antique where you can’t touch, because otherwise if it is 200 years old it can be broken.”We were standing there [on the square] with rubber [spikes]. You tell me a day after a batsman will be sliding to survive a run-out, a bowler will be sliding to stop the ball, so you tell me; maybe he [Fortis] is thinking we are trying to grow the grass. I mean I don’t know. He said that we are trying to get this grass [on] the next wicket to the centre wicket. I don’t know how much grass will grow in one day and what will happen in the next five days. [We understand] You want your ground to be good, the square to be good, but end of the day it is a cricket pitch.”England have a 2-1 lead in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, with the final Test due to begin on July 31.