England vs India: Curator told Gautam Gambhir to stay 2.5 metres away from pitch, yelled at support staff for carrying water cooler to ground

When Indian coaches Gautam Gambhir and Sitanshu Kotak walked to the Oval central square to have a routine pre-match look at the pitch, local curator Lee Fortis, through a messenger, asked them to stay 2.5 metres away from the playing surface. He also shouted at the Indian support staff to not take a ‘cooler’ to the ground.

This is the back-story of India head coach Gambhir’s angry exchange with Fortis and his “you don’t tell us what we need to do” comment that was caught on camera and went viral.

The final India-England Test of the two-month-long, but riveting, tour starts on Thursday but the mercury around the series-deciding game continues to climb. After England skipper Ben Stokes’s sermon on cricket morality to Indian batsmen Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar – the chief Bazballer didn’t want the Indians to complete their hundreds since there was no point in continuing a Test that was headed for a draw – comes the lesson on field of play decorum by an English curator.

VIDEO | Indian team's head coach Gautam Gambhir was seen having verbal spat with chief curator Lee Fortis at The Oval Cricket Ground in London ahead of the last Test match of the series starting Thursday. After having drawn the fourth Test at Old Trafford, India have a chance… pic.twitter.com/hfjHOg9uPf — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 29, 2025

Though Gambhir, after the Manchester Test, didn’t say much about the Stokes-Jadeja ‘handshake’ incident, the Indian team management didn’t mince words at The Oval. Batting coach Kotak, who was close to the action and played the pacifier when an animated Gambhir was talking to Fortis, gave details about the net session altercation.

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“When we went to see the pitch, we were asked by someone to keep a 2.5-metre distance. This was surprising. The Test would be in a few days and we were wearing joggers. So it felt a bit odd. We all have been on the ground enough, we have played so much cricket. Curators are possessive about the ground and the square but they need to understand that they are speaking to highly skilled and intelligent people.” Kotak said.

“If you see, no bowler is wearing spikes .. we also know the ground shouldn’t be damaged. End of the day, it’s a cricket pitch … it’s not an antique that is 200 years old and can be broken. Today, we were wearing shoes with rubber soles and in a day’s time, a batsman will be sliding to survive a run-out or a bowler will be sliding there to stop the ball.”

Kotak said that the curator told them that they were trying to grow grass on the pitch next to the main 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 and square to be good but at the end of the day, it’s a cricket pitch.”

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Kotak also gave details about curators yelling at Indian support staff members for carrying a water-cooler to the ground.

“He was sitting on the roller and from there, he shouted at the support staff asking them not to take the cooler to the ground. The weight of that cooling box is about 10 kilos … it wouldn’t have mattered. It is good to be a little possessive and protective about the pitch and the outfield, but not that much. The support staff work under the head coach, so Gautam will say that you cannot shout at them.”

The batting coach hinted that the Oval curator has a reputation that they were aware of.

“To be very honest, before coming to The Oval, most of the teams know that the curator is not the easiest person to get on with.”

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Later in the press conference, Kotak would get questioned by the English media and the batting coach would once again repeat his version of events. A few more details would emerge.

“So we were there standing on the wicket (when) one of the groundstaff came and said that we need to stand 2.5 metres away from the pitch. In my cricketing career, I have not heard anyone saying that .., He was literally telling the head coach ‘you go outside the rope and see the wicket …’ I don’t know how you see … if somebody is brushing their shoes on the pitch or trying to put something in the wicket or somebody wearing spikes, the curator feels that way, it is fine. But in this case, it was a very strange way of saying you go and stand two-and-a-half metres away from here …”

Kotak said they have had conversations with other curators in this series but none like the one they had with Fortis.

“Gautam is someone who does not even speak about unnecessary things. He does not talk to anyone. Last four games we played, everywhere, wherever we go, all the curators where 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 the weather, we will decide tomorrow.’ That is a good answer …”

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