INDIA TOUR OF ENGLAND, 2025
Shubman Gill said Oval curator Lee Fortis was out of line in asking India’s support staff to observe the pitch from a distance © Getty
Shubman Gill said Oval curator Lee Fortis was out of line in asking India’s support staff to observe the pitch from a distance two days out from the fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. The India captain was responding to questions about Tuesday’s flashpoint between Fortis and head coach Gautam Gambhir, with the latter’s animated and expletive-fuelled response providing souring the build up to the series finale.
The India captain had not turned up for practice two days out from the game when the said blow-up took place but was present on Wednesday (July 30) – the eve of the match – to assess and study the match wicket. The same luxury had been accorded to the England team as well when they trained in the morning after opting to rest yesterday.
As assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak had indicated yesterday, India’s contention was that Fortis had asked them to move two-and-a-half metres away from the pitch, an order Gill said was unprecedented. “What happened yesterday, I thought was just absolutely unnecessary,” Gill said. “It’s not the first time that we were having a look at the wicket, we have been there for almost two months. A coach has every right to be able to go close quarters and have a look at the wicket and I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. I actually don’t know why the curator would not allow us to go have a look at the wicket.”
Gill said there had been no issues at any of the other four venues of the series – Headingley, Edgbaston, Lord’s and Old Trafford – with no instructions imposed on the usage of the square for practice either. It is to be noted that apart from Headingley, the other three venues have provisions for an outdoor training facility outside of the main ground.
“As long as I remember, we had never got any instructions. As long as you are wearing rubber spikes or [are] barefoot you can see the wicket from near,” he said. “We have played four matches already in this series, and nobody stopped us from watching the pitch. All of us have played so much cricket, we have gone to the pitches so many times, including the coaches and captain, I don’t know what the fuss was about.”
When asked if the pressure of trailing 1-2 in the series with the team having won just two of the last 12 Tests played had a bearing in Gambhir’s aggressive reaction, Gill responded in the negative. “Not really. If a pitch curator is going to come and ask us to not look at the wicket and look at the wicket from three metres behind, that’s not something that has happened to us before.
“We’ve been playing cricket for such a long time and as long as you are wearing rubber spikes or are barefoot, you are allowed to look at the wicket from close quarters. That’s the job of the coach and the captain.”
Despite the simmering tensions since the third day of the Lord’s Test, Gill said equations between the two teams were amicable and that he had “no regrets” to how he or his team have reacted. “The relation is fantastic, but when you are on the field, you are trying to win a game at the end of the day, and both the teams have been very competitive and sometimes when you are competitive in the heat of the moment, you do or say things that you might not do,” Gill said. “But once the match is over, there is mutual respect between both teams.”
© Cricbuzz
