India head coach Gautam Gambhir was in the midst of another controversy as India and England were preparing for the fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at the Oval.
Two days ahead of the match, when the India coaches and captain were assessing the wicket, Surrey pitch curator Lee Fortis asked the coaches and the captain to stay 2.5m away from the square, which got Gambhir animated and got into a verbal spat with Fortis.
The Indian camp claimed they were told to move away from the pitch despite wearing rubber spikes, which is generally allowed on the pitch. They also alleged that Fortis was rude while asking them to step aside, leading to the altercation.
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Former Australian opener and commentator Matthew Hayden has come out and defended Gambhir's right to be angry for being asked to walk away from the pitch before the match.
Here's what he had to say.
Matthew Hayden backs coach Gautam Gambhir over the groundsman controversy:
While speaking on the All Over Bar The Cricket YouTube channel, Hayden revealed his playing days, where he would sit on the pitch before the match and meditate.
According to Hayden, this is a typical English behavior where they were trying to put Gambhir and co. off ahead of the match to end the series with a win.
He backed the 43-year-old in his fight for their right to inspect the pitch; however, thought 'you are just a groundsman' jibe should have been avoided by the coach.
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"I used to sit out in the middle and meditate and there wouldn't be a groundsman who wouldn't come to me and say 'mate, get off the wicket,' they can get pretty protective around their surfaces," he said.
"I mean human traffic, as opposed to the roller traffic or all the other traffic, is a bit of a flex. It is a typical case in England — here we are, final Test match, this is my venue. They are going to try and make it difficult for GG," Hayden added.
"I wasn't in that moment, but I think he has every right to tone it down; he could've used better language, but his team's trying to train ahead of the most important test match that they're going to play throughout the summer and as it turns out, they got the result they wanted," he concluded.
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Interestingly, after the fight between the groundsman and Gambhir happened, the pictures of Fortis and England coach Brendon McCullum standing on the pitch also circulated on social media.
Vice-captain Ollie Pope was also seen shadow batting on the same pitch a day after the controversy panned out.
Nonetheless, India went on to win the Oval Test by 6 runs and managed to draw their second consecutive tour of England with a scoreline of 2-2.