Shubman Gill breaks silence on Gautam Gambhir's spat with Oval pitch curator ahead of 5th ENG vs IND 2025 Test

Team India captain Shubman Gill slammed The Oval's pitch curator Lee Fortis over his ugly spat with coach Gautam Gambhir. Stating that he didn't understand what the fuss was all about, Gill added that he cannot recall any other curator having a problem with them in the Test series.

A massive controversy erupted on Tuesday, July 29 after The Oval curator Fortis asked India's coaches to stay 2.5m away from the pitch. Gambhir was seen having a verbal altercation with Fortis and told him he had not right to tell them what they need to do.

At a press conference on the eve on The Oval Test, which begins on Thursday, July 31, Gill broke his silence on the Gambhir-Fortis controversy. Hitting out at the pitch curator, he commented:

"As long as I remember, no such instructions are given. As long as you are wearing rubber spikes or are barefoot, you can watch the wicket by going close. I don’t know what happened yesterday and why the curator said no to it. We have played four matches before that and no one had stopped us. I don’t know what the fuss was all about."

The Indian captain also dismissed a query regarding Gambhir feeling the heat, with the visitors trailing in the series. The 25-year-old replied:

"If a pitch curator to going to come and ask us to not look at the pitch and look at the wicket from 3m from behind, that's not something that has happened to us before. We have been playing cricket for a long time."

Meanwhile, England captain Ben Stokes, who has been ruled out the fifth Test, refused to comment on the controversy, stating he did not know what happened.

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"Matches have gone on till five days" - Shubman Gill reacts to short turnaround time for The Oval Test

The Oval Test between England and India will get underway just three days after the conclusion of the fourth Test in Manchester. There was a much bigger gap between the first and second Tests and the third and fourth Tests. Reacting to the short turnaround time for the last Test, Gill admitted that it is tough on both sides, but also pointed out that all the four matches so far have ended on Day 5.

"One of the most important things in the series has been that the matches have gone on till five days - not just five days, the last session of Day 5. I can’t remember a series where all the four matches went on till the last day. It’s definitely hard," Gill said. "Three days is too less of a turnaround when both the teams are playing such hard cricket. But, we also understand, if you keep giving five or six days after every match, the tour becomes very long. The decision has been taken by the board and we trust it," the Indian captain added.

The Oval Test is a must-win clash for India as England are 2-1 up in the series. They visitors stayed alive by drawing the Manchester Test on the back of a resilient batting effort.

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Edited by Renin Wilben Albert