London, Jul 29 (PTI) India head coach Gautam Gambhir was on Tuesday involved in a heated exchange of words with the Oval’s chief curator Lee Fortis and was heard telling him “you don’t tell us what we need to do” while pointing fingers at the groundstaff.
The Oval will host the fifth and final Test between India and England from Thursday, and the Indian team has hit the ground running two days after staging a remarkable comeback to draw the fourth match in Manchester.
During the training session, videos that have now gone viral on social media clearly showed an upset Gambhir getting into a verbal altercation with the curator, prompting India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak to intervene and douse the situation.
While it was not clear why the two got into an argument, Gambhir and Fortis appeared to be arguing over the conditions of the pitches for practice.
Batting coach Kotak then intervened and took Fortis to one corner of the practice arena and had a lengthy discussion with him.
Fortis and Gambhir then went their separate ways, with the India coach returning to oversee the net session.
Meanwhile Sai Sudharsan, who registered a half-century and a duck in the Manchester Test, was the first one to arrive at the venue for practice, where left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was also seen putting in some hard yards. PTI BS AH UNG
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