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Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
‘Absolutely unnecessary': Shubman Gill breaks silence on Gautam Gambhir's fight with Oval pitch curator
India captain Shubman Gill said that he fails to understand why the pitch curator at the Oval had a problem with them taking a look at the wicket from close quarters, an incident which eventually led to head coach Gautam Gambhir having a verbal altercation with the latter. Clips of Gambhir's angry exchange with Lee Fortis went viral on Tuesday and Gill said that India were never given any instructions about how to approach the pitch that were outside of what is general practice. 'As long as I remember there was never any instructions like that,' said Gill when asked on the even of the fifth Test between India and England if they were informed early on by the ground staff at the Oval about needing to stay 2.5 metres away from the playing surface when inspecting the pitch in the days before the match. 'As long as we are wearing rubber spikes or barefooted, you can see the wicket from close quarters. I don't know what happened yesterday, why the curator didn't allow it. We have played four matches (in the ongoing tour of England), no one stopped us from doing that. We have played enough cricket in the past and captains and coaches have looked at the pitches from close so many times. I don't know what the fuss was all about,' he said. Gill further siad that the coach has every right to take a look at the pitch from close quarters. 'I thought it's just absolutely unnecessary. It's not the first time that we were having a look at the wicket. We have been here for almost two months. A coach has every right to be able to go close quarters and have a look at the wicket. I don't think there is anything wrong with that and I actually don't know why the curator would not allow us to go have a look at the wicket. 'If a pitch curator is going to come and ask us to not look at the wicket, or look at it from 3 meters away, that's not something that has happened to us before. We have been playing cricket for a long time, as long as we are wearing rubber spikes or barefoot, we are allowed to look at the wicket from close quarters, which is the job of the coach and the captain. So I don't know why they didn't allow us to do that,' he said. In visuals captured by the travelling flock of Indian media, Gambhir can be seen yelling at a burly man, who was later identified as Fortis. 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… — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 29, 2025 Gambhir can be heard yelling 'you don't tell us what we need to do'. Later, India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak had revealed that the Oval staff had tried to tell Indian team management when they had gone to check out the wicket to stand two and a half metres away. This had sparked the confrontation between India head coach Gambhir and Fortis, where he can be seen telling the India coach that he will raise a complaint with the match referee. Fortis has been in charge of the pitch at the Oval ion London since 2012, when he was brought on to replace Bill Gordon. Before 2012, Fortis had previously worked as an assistant head groundsman at the Oval before leaving in 2006. He had a stint tending the Honourable Artillery Company ground in the City of London. After taking charge of the Oval ground as Surrey's Head of Ground Staff, Fortis claimed the award for the best multi-day pitches for the third consecutive year at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) 2024 Grounds Manager of the Year Awards last year.
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Business Standard
7 hours ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Around 489 road projects delayed due to land and clearance issues: Gadkari
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, said the government is making all efforts to resolve the pending issues Press Trust of India New Delhi As many as 489 road projects, which were originally scheduled for completion by March 2025, are pending due to delays in land acquisition, forest/wildlife clearances and railway approvals, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, said the government is making all efforts to resolve the pending issues in close coordination with state governments and other stakeholders to complete these projects. Gadkari said cost overrun has been incurred in some of the delayed projects due to various factors like enhanced cost of compensation for land and structures, price escalation, Goods & Services Tax (GST) impact, additional VUPs/PUPs on public demand or otherwise, change in General Arrangement Drawing (GAD)/design for Road Over Bridges/Road Under Bridges (ROBs/RUBs) to meet the Railway standards, etc. If projects are inordinately delayed due to some reasons and further progress under the ongoing contract is not envisaged, the contract is terminated/foreclosed and re-awarded, with or without modification in the project configuration, he added. Responding to a separate question, Gadkari said national highways are constructed in accordance with specifications of Indian Road Congress (IRC). "The maximum design speed specified for construction of national highways in different terrains is 120 km/h for expressways and 100 km/h for national highways," he said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Business Standard
10 hours ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Govt intensifies cyber crime crackdown, spoof call cases dip: Scindia
He told the Lok Sabha that the communications and home ministries have taken four to five major measures to deal with cyber crimes Press Trust of India New Delhi The government is taking various measures, including setting up Digital Intelligence Platform, to curb cyber crimes and international spoof calls have also come down, Union Communication Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday. He told the Lok Sabha that the communications and home ministries have taken four to five major measures to deal with cyber crimes. The Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) brings various stakeholders together. It has coopted 620 institutions, including 570 banks, police institutions of 36 states and investigating agencies, Scindia said during the Question Hour. Elaborating on the measures taken, the minister also said that international spoofed calls have come down by 97 per cent. A Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) software is being used wherein the data about individuals doing fraud with banks are categorised into various categories. The details are provided to all the banks and the transaction of such individuals are blocked, he said. Responding to a supplementary question, Scindia said state-owned BSNL and MTNL are back on the road to recovery. The minister mentioned about the review meeting of BSNL this week and said a business plan will be prepared, especially for each business circle.
Indian Express
a day ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
Who is Lee Fortis, the Oval pitch curator Gautam Gambhir was yelling at
Just days after watching his team fight their way — in more ways than one — to a draw in the Old Trafford Test in Manchester, Gautam Gambhir got into a fight of his own at the Oval stadium on Tuesday as the Indian team attended their first training session before their final Test against England. In visuals captured by the travelling flock of Indian media, Gambhir can be seen yelling at a burly man, who was later identified as Oval pitch curator Lee Fortis. Gambhir can be heard yelling 'you don't tell us what we need to do'. Later, India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak had revealed that the Oval staff had tried to tell Indian team management when they had gone to check out the wicket to stand two and a half metres away. This had sparked the confrontation between India head coach Gambhir and Fortis, where he can be seen telling the India coach that he will raise a complaint with the match referee. 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… — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 29, 2025 So who is Lee Fortis, the Oval pitch curator Gautam Gambhir was yelling at? Fortis has been in charge of the pitch at the Oval ion London since 2012, when he was brought on to replace Bill Gordon. Before 2012, Fortis had previously worked as an assistant head groundsman at the Oval before leaving in 2006. He had a stint tending the Honourable Artillery Company ground in the City of London. After taking charge of the Oval ground as Surrey's Head of Ground Staff, Fortis claimed the award for the best multi-day pitches for the third consecutive year at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) 2024 Grounds Manager of the Year Awards last year. A statement from the Grounds Management Association (GMA) – the UK's leading membership body dedicated to supporting grounds staff – noted: 'Fortis and his team at the Oval earned consistently outstanding marks for their County Championship and Test pitches during the 2024 domestic and international season to win the Bernard Flack Memorial Trophy. This is also the fourth time in total that Fortis has scooped the prize since starting his role since 2012.'
New York Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Times
India coach Gautam Gambhir involved in confrontation with Oval curator: ‘You're just a groundsman'
India head coach Gautam Gambhir was involved in a heated confrontation with the Kia Oval's head of ground staff in the build-up to the fifth Test with England. A video filmed by the Press Trust of India, and circulated on social media, showed Gambhir having an argument with Lee Fortis while India were having a net practice session on the outfield. Advertisement At the start of the video, Fortis can be seen in discussion with several members of Indian staff before he moves away to stand to the side of the nets. As Fortis does so, he can be heard telling Gambhir, 'I'm going to have to report you.' The former Indian opener then replies: 'Go and report whatever.' Moments later, as Fortis points down at the ground, Gambhir can be heard telling Fortis, 'You don't tell any of us what to do', and then repeats 'you are just a groundsman' several times while pointing his finger at him. The rest of the exchange is inaudible. 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… — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 29, 2025 Fortis was later asked by Indian media to clarify the cause of the argument. 'Why would I want to say anything?' he said. 'There's quite a big game coming up isn't there? It's not my job to be happy with (Gambhir). I've never met him before today. You saw what he was like this morning.' Asked again why Gambhir was so animated, Fortis added: 'You'll have to ask him that question. There's nothing to speak about. We've nothing to hide here.' The Athletic has contacted the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for comment. The flashpoint is the latest controversy in an increasingly fractious series, which England lead 2-1 ahead of the final game. Both sets of players clashed during the third Test at Lord's, with visiting captain Shubman Gill accusing England of violating the spirit of the game by timewasting on the third evening. England's players then criticised Indian batters Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar on the final day of the fourth Test at Old Trafford after they declined an offer to end the game early as a draw, with both nearing centuries. Gambhir was appointed as India's head coach in July 2024, succeeding his former teammate Rahul Dravid. The 43-year-old played 58 Test matches and 147 one-day internationals, making 20 international centuries across all formats. After retiring from playing in 2018, he embarked on a political career, becoming a member of parliament at the 2019 Indian general election for Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. He stepped back from active politics in March 2024. Fortis has been head of ground staff at Surrey County Cricket Club since 2012 and has won the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) grounds manager of the year award three years running. This has been an unusually heated Test series on the field, while England have been privately angry off it at the condition of pitches. Preparation of all surfaces for Test cricket is very much down to the home county and there is often pressure put on groundstaff to provide pitches that last five days and create maximum revenue for the hosts. Advertisement England are allowed to liaise with groundstaff in an attempt to gain home advantage but have been frustrated this summer at what they perceive to be pitches that are more sub-continental than English in nature. Captain Ben Stokes is reluctant to criticise pitches in public through fear of it looking like an excuse but he did say before the fourth Test at Old Trafford that 'the first three wickets haven't necessarily played the way we thought they were going to.' And Stokes' mood was not improved by a pitch at Old Trafford that was so flat and slow it produced 1,452 runs for the loss of only 24 wickets, including just two in the last five sessions of the Test. England have asked Surrey to provide a pitch with pace, life and a bit of grass on it for Thursday's final Test. It is that grass that was at the centre of the clash between India Gambhir and Fortis. Fortis is a highly regarded head of groundstaff who is very much his own man and will do things his way. The county pitches at the Kia Oval this season have had pace and bounce and Surrey expect the Test surface to produce the same. That may suit Stokes and England coach Brendon McCullum but is likely to displease Gambhir and India. (Top photo of Gautam Gambhir:)
