MANCHESTER: The ongoing five-match Test series between India and England seems to be getting intense with each passing day. It all began with India captain Shubman Gill taking on England opener Zak Crawley for intentionally delaying the proceedings on Day of the Lord's Test.
Then it spilled over to the fourth match in Manchester when English captain Ben Stokes offered to draw the contest only for Indian batters to reject it and instead continue playing and complete their centuries.
Yet another chapter was added to it on Tuesday when India head coach Gautam Gambhir had heated arguments with chief curator of the Oval Lee Fortis two days before the fifth Test. The duo was seen having animated discussions when India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak tried to diffuse the situation even as players continued with the practice session.
The former Saurashtra captain said it all started when he along with Gambhir went to have a look at the pitch before the nets started. "When we went to see the wicket, coaches were standing there and then he (curator) sent a man asking us to stay two-and-a-half-metre away from the wicket, which was little surprising because on a cricket wicket, which is hosting five-day match a day after and we were standing there wearing joggers. So that was a little awkward," Kotak told journalists in the press conference.
Kotak, who also coached Saurashtra for a long time in domestic cricket, when asked on the curator's response on the India head coach later in the day said, "See we all have been in the ground enough, played so much cricket and we all know that curators are little over protective and little possessive about the square and the ground and all. So what he said about the head coach, I don't really want to comment because that's his opinion and everyone in this world has their opinions. But I think just looking at the wicket with a rubber spike just the day after there is a Test match there. There is nothing wrong."
He said the curators should also understand that the support staff too are professionals and they also make sure the ground doesn't get damaged. "The curators also need to understand that the people they are talking to are highly skilled and intelligent people. So for example if you go on the ground now where we practised you won't even see that any bowler in the outfield would have marked with his spikes. So we try to see that and that all comes from the head coach that we'll try and see that this ground also should not get damaged. So when you are working with 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 at the end of the day it's a cricket pitch. It's not an antique that you can't touch because otherwise it's 200 years old and it can be broken. So that's what I feel. A day after, a batter will be sliding to survive from getting run out there. A bowler will be sliding there to stop the ball. He said that we are trying to grow the grass on the next pitch to the centre wicket. I don't know how much grass will grow in one day and what will happen in the next five days. So sometimes you want your ground to be good and square to be good but at the end of the day it's a cricket pitch."
England director of cricket Rob Key and head coach Brendon McCullum also inspected the pitch. Kotak was asked whether the duo was also asked to stay away from the wicket. "They came when we were there. I don't know what they said. They didn't say anything in front of me." He was enquired whether Gambhir is feeling pressure because it's been a long, heated and at times combustible series and he replied in negative. "I don't think so. I think it's been a very, very competitive series and both the teams, to be fair to England also, played really well. We know that the first Test also and the Lord's Test also could have gone either way. So, all the Test matches went to the fifth day. So, it's been an absolutely brilliant Test series so far. But no, Gautam... I've never seen him under pressure in our playing days to now. So, definitely not under pressure. But, yeah, we wish that the Lord's game, we could have won and gone 2-1 up. And all that, we all think, but that's not pressure. That's just going back and thinking that could we have done something different? But that's normal, nothing about pressure or taking pressure or anything like that."
He, however, said in his long cricketing and coaching career, he has never seen curators behaving like that. "I honestly, because I was there I felt we were just standing there looking at the wicket and one of the ground staff came there and told us to stay 2.5 metre away from the surface, in my cricketing career I have never seen anybody saying that because I don't know literally he was saying to head coach to go outside the rope and see the wicket. Brushing the shoes or somebody is trying to put something in the wicket or somebody wearing spikes, the curator feels that it is fine but it was a very strange way of saying you go and stand two and a half metres away from here. So, I think that is where it started because Gautam is someone who does not even say unnecessary things. He does not talk to anyone. Last four games we played, everywhere, wherever we went, all the curators - they talk, they even tell you when they are going to cut the grass, whether they are going to cut the grass. And if they do not want to give an answer, they will say, we will see and it depends on the weather, we will see tomorrow. So, that is a good answer. So, specifically the wicket will be used for the match and Gautam was trying to just take a look at it and I was there. All the coaches were there. So, I think looking at the wicket is something not a bad thing with the joggers on."
Kotak also cited an incident where the curator prevented a support staff from bringing a cooling box into the ground. "When one of the support staff was bringing the cooling box there, still he was sitting on the roller, he shouted and told him not to take it there. Now the weight of that cooling box will be 10 kilos according to me. It will not be more than that. So, it is good to be a little possessive and it is also good to be protective, but not that much. So, 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 from there and say this. So, it was very normal. Then he came there and he started talking. I think it all started from the time when we were watching the wicket. And to be very honest, if you want me to be very honest, before coming to the Oval, most of the team knows that the curator is not the easiest person to get on with." Kotak, however, said that the team management would not be complaining about the incident to authorities concerned.
The batting coach said the Oval wicket has some grass on it and also the moisture. "There is grass in the wicket which was normally less in Manchester. Same was the case in all three places (before the fourth Test). It is of that type. There is some moisture. So it is a typical wicket which we got in three previous matches. But then every ground has its own soil. So here they say that normally the bounce is good. There is some early movement. Then there are runs also. But that again the data is from 2019 and we are playing the match in 2025. So only when we play, we will know how the wicket is going to behave."
Speaking on the availability of pacer Jasprit Bumrah, he said, "He has bowled in one innings in the last match. So obviously the head coach, our physio and captain, they will have a discussion and decide. No discussion has been done about Bumrah playing the match yet."
