India's Gautam Gambhir clashes with Oval groundsman before fifth Test
Gambhir was seen pointing his finger at Lee Fortis and shouting 'you can't tell us what to do'. Fortis responded and eventually the pair were separated by Sitanshu Kotak, India's batting coach, and other members of support staff.
The Times understands that the argument arose because India had wheeled their bags over an area of the square that was being prepared for future matches and that the team had encroached out of the area set aside on the outfield for their training session.
Surrey are hosting 60 days of cricket at the Oval this summer and the groundstaff were trying to protect the square before the fifth Test, which begins on Thursday, and for future fixtures, including five days of Hundred matches, a limited-overs match against South Africa in September and several home Surrey matches.
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Kotak defended the India head coach and his players, saying they had done nothing wrong, and accused Fortis of being 'not the easiest person to deal with'.
'When we were having a conversation near the pitch, they had sent a man to send a message for us to stay 2.5m away from the pitch,' he said. 'What he said about the head coach is his opinion and I don't want to comment. We did nothing wrong, we were wearing rubber spikes.
'None of the bowlers were even wearing spikes. You can be protective, but not arrogant. [The pitch] is not an antique that you can't touch. He said, 'We are trying to grow the grass.' At the end of the day, it's a cricket pitch.'
Fortis was asked by India reporters at the ground about the flare-up but did not expand on what caused the row, although he suggested that Gambhir had been 'touchy'.
'There's quite a big game coming up,' Fortis said. 'You saw what he [Gambhir] was like this morning. You'll have to ask him. There's no side to the story. I'm OK, we've nothing to hide here. It does look a bit like you're ganging up on me. If you turn the cameras round and show what this is.'
India have confirmed that they will not be lodging a formal complaint against Surrey or Fortis.
England take a 2-1 lead to the Oval, the final Test in what has been a heated series with a number of flashpoints. Late on the third day of the third Test at Lord's Shubman Gill accused England of not playing in the spirit of cricket after what they perceived as deliberate time-wasting tactics, which resulted in the India captain telling Zak Crawley to 'grow some f***ing balls'.
That tension spilt over into the fourth Test at Old Trafford when England were annoyed by India declining the offer of an early handshake by Ben Stokes to end the match in a draw, with the visiting side wanting to bat on to allow Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to reach centuries.
Stokes has since been accused of being petulant by some commentators and pundits, who have argued that India were perfectly within their rights to bat on. There is nothing within the regulations that says teams have to accept the draw with an hour of play still left in the match, even though that option is on offer.
Gambhir is under pressure as India's head coach after a string of poor results — since he took over, India have won only two and lost eight of 12 Tests and his future may hang on the result of this final Test. If India can win and draw the series that will be seen as a good result for the touring side, but if they lose and therefore lose the series, it will be a third consecutive Test series defeat.
Fifth Test, the OvalThursday, 11amTV Sky Sports Cricket/Main Event
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