India won The Oval Test against England by six runs.
The Oval chief pitch curator, Lee Fortis, is yet to forget his animated chat with India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir. A clip where Fortis and Gambhir had a fierce chat that went viral on the internet two days before the final Test. The heated exchange was regarding the pitch that was going to be used for the fifth Test.
A few days later, India looked far behind in the game till the stumps on Day 4. But a dramatic batting collapse of the hosts helped India seal the win and draw the series 2-2. Now, Indian cricketers have already reached home, but Fortis hasn’t been able to move on from the incident. He reignited the row, taking a dig at Gambhir. He called India’s head coach “tetchy” or ‘bad-tempered’.
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The verbal spat sparked when Fortis displayed issues with the Indian players and coaching staff getting too close to the pitch during a practice session. He first approached India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, leading Gambhir to interfere. India’s head coach flaunted his finger towards Fortis and told him he was “just a groundsman”. Fortis warned Gambhir to stop swearing or risk being reported to the ICC match referee.
According to an ESPNcricinfo report, when Fortis issued a second warning, Gambhir snapped: “You stop it. You don’t tell us what we need to do. You have no right to tell us. You’re just a groundsman—stay in your capacity. Nothing beyond. You are just a groundsman.”
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Speaking to PTI seven days after the incident, the curator asserted that the spat had made him a villain in the eyes of Indians. He also displayed satisfaction with how the decider went and praised the “IPL-like atmosphere” at the venue on game days.
“Well, I was never the villain; I was made into one. Hope you guys enjoyed the show, and the atmosphere was like the IPL. It was a great game,” said Fortis.
Notably, Fortis has been named the English Cricket Board’s (ECB) curator of the year for the last three years in a row.
Fortis is now working on creating pitches for the ongoing The Hundred. The PTI report also claimed that Fortis ran towards the main square to oversee the preparation of the pitches for The Hundred games right after India’s celebrations ended.
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