TimesofIndia.com in London: The Oval curator Lee Fortis has presented his side of the story after getting into a heated and animated exchange with India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday. During the exchange, Gambhir was spotted pointing fingers at the ground staff member and yelling out, “you don’t tell us what we need to do.”“You saw what he was like this morning. He’s a bit touchy!,” when asked to share specifics. Fortis said, “There’s no side of the story. You’ll have to ask him that,” when prodded to share why Gambhir got upset.
Fortis evaded multiple attempts at providing facts of what transpired between him and the former India batter. “I’m okay. We’ve got nothing to hide here,” he said.The Indian team are in London for the fifth and final Test between India and England starting Thursday. England lead the series 2-1.The confrontation seemingly occurred over practice pitch conditions, requiring batting coach Sitanshu Kotak’s intervention to defuse the situation.Kotak stepped in to resolve the situation, taking Fortis aside for a lengthy discussion in one corner of the practice area.Following the intervention, both Gambhir and Fortis went their separate ways, with the India coach returning to supervise the ongoing net session.India come into the fifth Test two days after securing a remarkable and memorable draw at Old Trafford in Manchester while being on the brink.In team news, TimesofIndia.com can report that Arshdeep Singh will make his Test debut at The Oval with chance to level the series for India.