The final Test of the ongoing India-England series just got a fiery prelude. Two days ahead of the decider, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir was involved in a heated argument with Oval curator Lee Fortis. The clash reportedly stemmed from a disagreement over the level of access granted to Indian players in the playing area.Team India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak revealed the reason behind the heated argument.
“When we were looking at pitch, they asked us to stand 2.5m away. We were wearing joggers. It was very odd. Looking at wicket with rubber spike, nothing wrong. We see ground is not damaged. Its a pitch, not antique,” he told reporters.“Curator yelled at support staff when they were getting ice box. Gambhir objected at that. The way he spoke irked Gambhir. Everyone knows curator at The Oval is not the easiest person to deal with,” he said.
Here’s the full text of the heated conversation that took place between Gambhir and Oval curator
🔴Curator: Don’t swear again, don’t swear again or I’ll report you to the match referee.🔴Gambhir: Go report. Go do whatever you want to do. Go F*** o** now.🔴Kotak and Curator in a conversation Gambhir jumps in and tells Kotak: Tell this a**, tell him to f*** o** report it to the match-referee. Don’t f***ing get into a discussion with him.🔴Curator: Inaudible🔴 Gambhir: You stop it. Don’t tell us what we need to do. You don’t tell us what we need to do. You don’t tell us what we need to do.🔴Curator: Inaudible🔴Gambhir: Ok, you don’t tell any of us what we need to do. You don’t tell us. You don’t have any right to tell us. You don’t have any right to tell us what we need to do, ok? You are just a groundsman, so just stay in your capacity. You are just a groundsman, nothing beyond that. Just a groundsman.🔴Curator: Inaudible🔴Gambhir: You are just a groundsman. Just a groundsman, stay in your capacity.