July 29, 2025<\/a><\/p>\nFortis was later asked by Indian media to clarify the cause of the argument. \u201cWhy would I want to say anything?\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s quite a big game coming up isn\u2019t there? It\u2019s not my job to be happy with (Gambhir). I\u2019ve never met him before today. You saw what he was like this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked again why Gambhir was so animated, Fortis added: \u201cYou\u2019ll have to ask him that question. There\u2019s nothing to speak about. We\u2019ve nothing to hide here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sources with knowledge of the situation told The Athletic that the clash began when the India team dragged their kit bags across the square at the Oval ahead of practice instead of carrying them, to the displeasure of Fortis, and then Gambhir complained about the amount of grass on the pitch.<\/p>\n
A Surrey source, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Athletic: \u201cWe\u2019re looking after the square. We\u2019ve had a lot of cricket played on it this summer and we are looking after every blade of grass.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was two men just being protective in the way they were going about their jobs. The way the series has gone, it\u2019s been a bit fractious and tempers are frayed. As far as I\u2019m aware, there won\u2019t be any complaint from us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, Sitanshu Kotak, assistant coach of India, told reporters in a press conference that Fortis had made the visitors feel \u201cawkward\u201d through his behaviour towards them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen some of the coaches went to see the wicket a member of the groundstaff said, \u2018Stay away at least 2.5 metres\u2019 which was a little surprising,\u201d he said. \u201cWe felt a little awkward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were just looking at the wicket, with rubber spikes. There\u2019s nothing wrong with that. Curators should understand that the people they\u2019re talking to are highly skilled and intelligent. If you sound a bit arrogant or if you come across like\u2026. If you go out there now you will not see any marks made by spikes. We try to make sure the ground doesn\u2019t get damaged.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can be protective but at the end of the day it is a cricket pitch. It is not an antique where you can\u2019t touch because if it was 200 years old it can be broken.\u201d<\/p>\n
The flashpoint is the latest controversy in an increasingly fractious series, which England lead 2-1 ahead of the final game.<\/p>\n
Both sets of players clashed during the third Test at Lord\u2019s, with visiting captain Shubman Gill accusing England of violating the spirit of the game by timewasting on the third evening.<\/p>\n
England\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Gambhir was appointed as India\u2019s head coach in July 2024, succeeding his former teammate Rahul Dravid.<\/p>\n
The 43-year-old played 58 Test matches and 147 one-day internationals, making 20 international centuries across all formats.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. He stepped back from active politics in March 2024.<\/p>\n
Fortis has been head of ground staff at Surrey County Cricket Club since 2012 and has won the England and Wales Cricket Board\u2019s (ECB) grounds manager of the year award three years running.<\/p>\n
This has been an unusually heated Test series on the field, while England have been privately angry off it at the condition of pitches.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cthe first three wickets haven\u2019t necessarily played the way we thought they were going to.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Stokes\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
England have asked Surrey to provide a pitch with pace, life and a bit of grass on it for Thursday\u2019s final Test. It is that grass that was at the centre of the clash between India Gambhir and Fortis.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
(Top photo of Gautam Gambhir: Gareth Copley\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n