TimesofIndia.com in London: On the eve of the high-stakes fifth and final Test at The Oval, India captain Shubman Gill broke his silence on the controversy involving head coach Gautam Gambhir and The Oval’s chief curator Lee Fortis, calling the incident “surprising” and questioning the curator’s conduct.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The incident occurred during India’s training session on Tuesday, where Fortis allegedly instructed the Indian support staff to stay at least 2.5 meters away from the pitch. This directive reportedly angered Gambhir, who fired back, “You don’t tell any of us what we need to do, you have no right to tell us, you are just a groundsman, nothing beyond.” The confrontation escalated before batting coach Sitanshu Kotak intervened to diffuse the situation.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Gill said, “No instructions like this — we have played four matches and no one gave us any instruction. We have played cricket and I don’t understand what the fuss was about.”
Gill further questioned the curator’s restrictions, especially regarding the team’s routine pitch inspections. “We have been playing for such a long time. We can look at the pitch wearing rubber spikes or barefoot. I don’t know why the curator didn’t allow that.”
England captain Ben Stokes, who has been ruled out of the final Test due to a shoulder injury, offered a terse response when asked about the incident: “I don’t know, I wasn’t here.”
While Stokes won’t feature in the series finale, he did take aim at the demanding scheduling, citing the uneven gaps between Tests. “The gaps between games could have been better. There were gaps of 8-9 days between matches and then 3-4 days as well,” he said.
Gill echoed the toll the series has taken, noting, “Can’t remember a series where four games went till the last session.”
With tensions simmering off the field and the series still alive at 2-1 in England’s favour, the Oval Test promises to be a fitting end to a gruelling and drama-filled contest.
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