England will take on India in the fifth Test in London on July 31.
Gone are the days when banters was a thing that used to happen only during a match. The ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy has taken banters to another level. India head coach Gautam Gambhir was involved in a verbal spat with the curator at The Oval, Lee Fortis. The incident occurred when the visitors arrived for a practice session at the venue. The fifth and the final Test of the series will be played from July 31 in London. The hosts were forced to hang on to their lead of 2-1, after India pulled out a draw from the jaws of defeat at Old Trafford.
In a recent development, a few more details about the incident have come to the foreground. According to RevSportz, English head coach Brendon McCullum and Rob Key inspected the pitch shortly before the Indians. Everything went normal, and the curator did not have any problems with that. But just when the visitors were wanting to inspect the wicket, Fortis claimed that they maintain a distance of 2.5 metres from the wicket. It is not possible to inspect the pitch from such a long distance and that is what sparked the debate between Gambhir and Fortis.
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There has been a lot of speculation around England having different standards for their own team against the visitors. Moreover, the curator, Lee Fortis, has been reported to have a history of rude behaviour against visiting teams. However, on the morning of July 29, things took a different turn. Indian coach Gautam Gambhir was seen involving in a verbal spat with the curator after his behaviour being partial towards the hosts.
Indian batting coach, Sitanshu Kotak, later explained in the press conference that the criteria of standing 2.5 metres away while inspecting the pitch was something which they experienced for the first time in their entire cricketing careers. He also stressed that it is impossible to study the pitch from that distance. Moreover, a few photos which were doing the rounds on social media showed that Fortis and McCullum were standing in the middle of the same pitch during the Ashes series of 2023. Additionally, the England head coach had just completed the inspection a few minutes ago before the Indian staff reached there. And they were not instructed with any such criteria.
After these differences, Fortis reportedly yelled at a member of the Indian support staff who was getting an ice box. The usual weight of an ice box is nowhere near to cause any harm to the square around the pitch. This is why that reaction from Fortis felt very harsh for the Indians. After this, Gambhir gave it back to Fortis, as the two were engaged in a verbal argument over the matter. Kotak later mentioned, that Gambhir did the right thing defending his boys because he was forced to a point where he had to react.
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