During a training session at The Oval, Gautam Gambhir and Surrey’s groundsman, Lee Fortis, exchanged heated words after being told not to step close to the pitch. Before the fifth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test begins on Thursday, the incident occurred.
Irfan Pathan has expressed concern that an English coach can be on the pitch while an Indian coach cannot. It is common for coaches and captains to examine the pitch ahead of a Test to refine tactics and team selections. “So an English coach can walk onto the pitch to inspect it? but an Indian coach can’t? Are we still stuck in the colonial era?” Irfan Pathan posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Irfan Pathan discussed an “unnecessary controversy” on his YouTube channel, suggesting it was created in order to divert attention away from India’s performance in a video on his YouTube channel. While inspecting the pitch, Gautam Gambhir wore rubber-spiked shoes, which do not damage the surface as steel-spiked shoes do.
“This curator has a history of being rude,” Pathan said. “There are several instances of him being behaving in such a way with overseas teams’ captains and coaches. This isn’t the first time. The process of Gambhir being villainised has been going on in the media for a long time now.”
“We end up laying red carpet for the visiting teams in India. When we go overseas, we follow the rules and it’s something nobody should have a problem with. There’s a photo on Twitter of the same curator standing with Brendon McCullum (England coach) on the same pitch two days before a match. Gambhir also went two days before. How can you then deny him? England’s coach is allowed but not Indian. It feels we are still living in the 1947 era. I cannot accept this (double-standard).If you won’t get to inspect the pitch, how will you plan for the game? You have to get a feel of the pitch by touching it – how hard it is, is there moisture in it? You can’t have that by staring from 2.5 meters. This was an unnecessary controversy,” he added.
The post ‘Are We Still In Colonial Era?’: Gautam Gambhir’s heated spat with curator leads to former Indian all-rounder calling it ‘Double Standards’ appeared first on Cricket Country.
