Former cricketer Aakash Chopra slammed the Oval pitch curator Lee Fortis for his double standards after the spat with Indian coach Gautam Gambhir. Fortis and Gambhir were seen involved in a heated argument on Tuesday, July 29, as the Indian coach went at the Oval pitch curator during the optional training session of the visitors at the venue. Gambhir was seen telling Fortis, ‘go, report whatever you want to report, you are only a groundsman.’
India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak lifted the lid on the incident during the press conference, where he said that Fortis was trying to keep them away from the pitch, despite them wearing rubber spikes. He also said that the pitch curator also shouted at the support staff, which made Gambhir snap at him.
Later on, a picture of Fortis and England coach Brendon McCullum from the 2023 Ashes emerged online, where it was seen that the curator had no issues standing on the pitch just two days before a match. Chopra talked about this on his YouTube channel and said he found Fortis’ behaviour bizarre and humiliating.
“It was the same curator in 2023, it was an Ashes match, and two days before that, he was standing on the pitch along with Brendon McCullum, the home team’s coach. If he can stand on the pitch 48 hours before the game, can the Indian players not go even close to the pitch? Can the Indian coach not go and see how the pitch is? I find this absolutely bizarre. I find this actually humiliating,” said Chopra.
‘Totally understand Gautam Gambhir’
Chopra also said that while the words used by Gambhir to Fortis should have been better, he said that he understands where the Indian coach was coming from.
“There might be a question whether the choice of words was alright. This is about Gautam. Maybe that’s not right because you need to be politically correct, as your designation is like that. However, I can totally understand what goes through a person’s mind,” Chopra observed.
Fortis played down the entire spat with Gambhir on Tuesday and declined to discuss the incident further.
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