India's training session two days before the series deciding fifth Test against England became a sideshow as head coach Gautam Gambhir got involved in a heated verbal spat with The Oval's chief curator Lee Fortis who allegedly asked the visiting team's support staff to stand 2.5 metres from the pitch.
Gambhir was on Tuesday heard telling Fortis "you don't tell any of us what we need to do, you have no right to tell us, you are just a groundsman nothing beyond" while pointing fingers at the chief curator.
In response Fortis was heard saying "I will have to report this."
In the presence of 10 squad members minus captain Shubman Gill, the training session in the field of play was going on as usual until Gambhir blasted Fortis, who is not the "easiest person to work with" despite winning ECB's best multi-day pitches award for the last three years.
India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak tried to douse the fire by taking Fortis away from Gambhir, who was visibly angry with the chief curator. Later, Kotak explained what really happened in the middle.
"When we went to take a look at the wicket the coaches were there, someone came to us and said 'stand 2.5 metres away', which was little surprising. Day after there is a Test match, we had our joggers on not spikes and it felt a bit awkward. I have never seen anything like that in my life.
"The Indian players had told me that he is not the easiest person to work with. It's okay to be protective and possessive about this pitch but not to this extent," said Kotak.
While the drama was unfolding, the travelling Indian media approached Fortis for his thoughts on the incident but he did not have much to say.
"He is a bit tetchy, it is a big game this week. You saw what he was like this morning. You have to ask him (what happened)," Fortis said.
'It's Not An Antique'
Kotak hinted the situation may have slipped out of control due to the tone of communication.
"Curators also need to understand that the people they are talking to, they are highly skilled and intelligent. For example, if you go on the ground now where we practiced, you won't see that any bowlers in outfield would have marked with his spikes.
"We try and see that this ground also should not get damaged. When you are working with a very intelligent and highly skilled people, if you sound a bit arrogant or if you come across like you know you can be protective but end of the day it's a cricket pitch.
"It's not an antique where you can't touch because otherwise it's 200 years old and it can be broken you know," Kotak said.
"That's what I feel. That's after a day we were with rubber standing there. You tell me day after day a batter will be sliding to survive from run out. A bowler will be sliding there to stop the ball. So maybe he is thinking that we are trying to grow the grass. I don't know."
With England not scheduled to train on Monday, head coach Brendon McCullum and ECB managing director Rob Key came to see the pitch in casual clothes but Kotak said no instructions were issued to them from The Oval groundstaff.
According to Kotak, what made the situation worse was that Fortis shouted at one member of the Indian team support staff to not take the cooling box near the main square. Kotak also ruled out filing any complaint with the ECB over the incident.
"I was thinking that you will ask about the draw of the last match (laughs). When one of the support staff was bringing the cooling box, Fortis was sitting on the roller, he shouted and told the support staff not to take it there. Now the weight of that cooling box will be 10 kilos according to me.
"He said something like that from a distance that do not take the cooling box there. It is good to be a little possessive and it is also good to be protective, but not that much.
"Then Gautam just said that do not talk to the support staff like this, because the support staff, we all come under the head coach. Any head coach will say that you cannot shout like this.
"It was very normal. Then he came there and he was saying, I think it got built up from the wicket when we were watching. And to be very honest, before coming to Oval, most of the team knows that the curator is not the easiest person to get on with.
"So, that gives a lot of answers. No, I do not think there is any point in complaining," Kotak elaborated on the incident.
Surrey, the county that owns the stadium, did not give an official statement on the altercation but sources said the curator was only trying to protect the main square with the ground hosting more than 60 days of cricket in a season.
It was no surprise that most of the questions during Kotak's media interaction were related to the Gambhir-Fortis showdown.
"If somebody is trying to put something in the wicket or somebody is wearing spikes, the curator feels that way it's fine. But it was a very strange way of saying you go and stand two and a half metres away from here.
"I think that is what started. Because Gautam is someone who doesn't speak unnecessary things. He does not talk to anyone.
"Last four games we played, everywhere, all the curators talk, they even tell you when they are going to cut the grass, whether they are going to cut the grass. And if they don't want to give an answer, they'll say 'we'll see on the weather, we'll see tomorrow."
"Specifically the wicket will be used for the match. Gautam was trying to just take a look at it. Looking at the wicket is not a bad thing with the joggers on," Kotak added.
