Follow UsThe controversy-filled Anderson-Tendulkar trophy between India and England became even more controversial today at The Oval as team India head coach Gautam Gambhir got into a heated altercation with Surrey’s head of ground staff Lee Fortis.
Earlier today, a video surfaced where Gambhir could be heard lambasting Fortis, telling him repeatedly, ‘don’t tell us what to do’ before asking the groundsman to ‘f*** off’. In response, Fortis informed Gambhir that he would launch a complaint against him to the match referee.
There was a mystery surrounding what prompted the harsh words from the team India head coach, but team India assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak spilt the beans at the press conference.
“He yelled at the Indian support staff when they were getting the cooling box, it hardly weighs 10 kgs. The way he spoke, it was a bit arrogant,” Kotak said at the press conference, reported RevSportz.
“When we were having a look at the wicket they had sent a man to send a message for us to stay 2.5 m away from the pitch. We were wearing joggers and rubber spikes, we didn’t see any issue.
“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.
Kotak further said that there was no necessity for the groundsperson to educate the team India coaching staff as they are already highly skilled, knowledgeable and intelligent individuals.
“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 I’m not sure how much grass you can grow within one day,” Kotak said.
The conflict between Gambhir and the groundsperson comes just days after the row on day five of the Manchester Test, where Ben Stokes got irked by the Indian batters refusing to shake hands and call it a draw at the start of the final hour. As it turned out, most of the general public sided with the Indian side, with many, including several former cricketers, chastising Stokes for taking a moral high ground.