Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has shared his opinion on Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir’s heated altercation with The Oval pitch curator Lee Fortis ahead of the fifth and final Test against England. Tensions reached boiling point after Gautam Gambhir exchanged fiery words with Lee Fortis after he reportedly asked Indian staff to keep three meters away from the main square. Ganguly felt that too much should not be made out of this and hoped for India to do well. 

“I really don’t know why Gambhir was upset. I’m sure all coaches and captains have discussions with the groundsmen sometimes happily, sometimes unhappily. It’s happened in my time, it’s going to happen in future also. So let’s not just make too much out of it. I wish India play well, win the Test and level the series,” Ganguly said while speaking to reporters.

Reports had suggested that Fortis expressed unhappiness with India using parts of the main square; however, Indian batting coach Sitanshu Kotak stated that they were wearing joggers and it was a bit awkward.

“When we went to see the wicket, so coaches were standing then one of the ground staff came and asked us to stand 2.5 metres away from it. Which was little surprising. Because, It's a cricket wicket, there's a five-day test starting the day after, and we were wearing joggers. So it was a bit awkward. Kotak had said during the press conference ahead of the fifth Test. 

“We all have been on the ground playing so much cricket. We know curators are a little over-protective, or possessive about the square and the ground. But I think just looking at the wicket, wearing rubber spikes - day after there is a Test match on it - there is nothing wrong. Curators also need to understand that the people they are talking to are highly skilled and intelligent people. So for example, if you go on the ground now where we practised, you won’t even see that any bowlers in the outfield would have marked with his spikes. And that call comes from the head coach, that we’ll try to see that this ground also should not get damaged.”