Kotak later accused Fortis of being “a bit arrogant” and shouting at India’s support staff.
“Most of the team knows the curator is not the easiest person to get on with,” Kotak said. “When you are working with very intelligent and highly skilled people, if you sound a bit arrogant, or if you come across like – you know you can be protective – but at the end of the day, it’s a cricket pitch. It’s not an antique where you can’t touch because otherwise it’s 200 years old and it can be broken.
India coach Gautam Gambhir.Credit: Getty Images
“We all have been on the ground enough, played so much cricket, and we all know that curators are a little over-protective, or a little, you know, possessive about the square and ground and all. So what he said about the head coach, I don’t really want to comment, because that’s his opinion. And everyone in this world has their opinions, but I think just looking at the wicket with a rubber spike just days after there is a Test match there. There’s nothing wrong.”
After salvaging a draw at Old Trafford, India remain 2-1 down, keeping the series alive heading into the fifth and final Test at the Oval. Two days out from the Test, Gambhir was unhappy with his team’s treatment in south London.
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Kotak outlined India’s view of the incident. “We were just standing on the wicket, looking at the wicket,” Kotak said. “One of the ground staff came and said, ‘You stand two-and-a-half metres away from here’, which in my cricketing career, I’ve never seen anybody saying that.
“So literally, he was saying, you go outside the rope to the head coach and see the wicket.”
Kotak said that the row broke out when he brought out a cooling box for the team.
“When I was bringing the cooling box there, he was sitting on the roller,” Kotak said. “He shouted and told the support staff not to take it there.
“Now the weight of the cooling box, according to me, will be 10 kilos. It won’t be more than that.”
India will not lodge any formal complaint about the incident. Surrey do not intend to issue any statement in response to the footage that has emerged.
English batsman Zak Crawley and India captain Shubman Gill exchange words at Lord’s Cricket Ground.Credit: Getty Images
“There’s nothing to speak about,” Fortis said during a brief interaction with the press. “We’ve nothing to hide here.”
Asked about Gambhir, Fortis said, “It’s not my job to be happy or not with him.”
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Despite India’s fightback in Manchester, Gambhir is under major personal pressure. Since he took over as head coach, India have won two and lost eight out of 12 Tests.
In Gambhir’s first series in charge, India were whitewashed 3-0 by New Zealand on their own soil, ending a sequence of 18 consecutive series victories at home.
They then lost 3-1 in Australia and need to win at the Oval to avoid a third consecutive Test series defeat.
Telegraph, London
