London, Jul 30 (PTI) — Captain Shubman Gill has come out in strong support of Gautam Gambhir following a heated confrontation with The Oval's chief curator, Lee Fortis. Gill firmly believes that the Indian coach is well within his rights to inspect the pitch.
During India's training session on Tuesday, Fortis reportedly instructed the Indian coaching staff to maintain a distance of 2.5 metres from the main pitch square, despite them being appropriately dressed in joggers or rubber spiked shoes, leading to discontent within the Indian team.Gambhir was overheard asserting, "You don’t tell any of us what we need to do… you have no right to tell us. You are just a groundsman, nothing beyond." Addressing the incident on the eve of the final Test, Captain Gill remarked, "What happened yesterday was unnecessary."
He added, "The coach has every right to look at the wicket. I don't understand why the curator won't allow that. As long as you’re wearing rubber spikes or are barefoot, it shouldn’t be a problem... don't know why he said no. There was no such issue in the last four games."Interestingly, on the same day, leading English players such as batting mainstay Joe Root and stand-in skipper Ollie Pope were seen standing on the match pitch doing shadow batting.
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