India captain Shubman Gill did not hold back in expressing his dismay at the Surrey chief curator, Lee Fortis, not allowing the Indian team to inspect the Oval pitch from close quarters. Fortis reportedly instructed the Indian team members to maintain a minimum of 2.5-metre distance from the main pitch, which surprised the coaching staff. Despite them wearing jogger shoes, which have very little chance of causing any harm to the pitch, the Indian coaching staff were not allowed to inspect the pitch. On top of that, India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said Fortis spoke rudely to one of India’s support staff for keeping a cooling box close to the main area. This irked head coach Gambhir, who then exploded into an argument with Fortis.
Gill said he had never been instructed to stay 2.5 metres away from the main pitch before the match. “As long as I can remember, there has been no such instruction (of staying 2.5 metres away). As long as you’re wearing rubber spikes or are barefoot, you can get a close look at the pitch. I don’t know what happened yesterday. Why did the curator stop us? We have played four matches here, and no curator has given us such instructions. And we have watched and played enough cricket. We have inspected the pitch multiple times, I don’t know what the fuss is all about,” Gill said in the pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
When asked whether head coach Gambhir was under pressure and hence reacted in that manner, Gill sided with the former India opener. “Not really. If a pitch curator comes and asks us to look at the wicket from 3 meters away, that is not something that has happened to us before,” he added.
