Oval pitch curator Lee Fortis is turning out to be a nightmare for the Indians involved in the ongoing Test series against England. After his ugly spat with team India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday and the Indian players on Wednesday, Fortis once again made the headlines when the Englishman confronted former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta, working as a commentator in the series.
Fortis has been making the headlines for his double standards. He first asked Gambhir and his staff to stay away from the main pitch. The next day, Fortis was seen having a laugh with the England players and backroom support on the pitch side. On the eve of the game, Fortis once again came back during the Indian training session, trying to disrupt the visitors’ build-up for the final game of the series.
On Thursday, Fortis confronted Dasgupta who was getting ready for the pitch report for the broadcasters before the start of the match. Visiting the pitch side has become a challenge for the Indians with Fortis constantly keeping an eye.
“I went up to the pitch and also stood on the pitch side too. He (Lee) made an eye contact with me once. Whatever happened between us, I think he’s has already got his medicine,” Dasgupta said in a video posted by Star Sports.
By “got his medicine” remark, Dasgupta refereed to Gambhir’s tough words to Fortis. In the video, Dasgupta was seen assessing the pitch from the umpire’s position. Former England captain Naseer Hussain was also doing a pitch report for Sky Sports at the same time.
Dasgupta elaborated he was waiting for Hussain to see how far the latter goes on pitch side. “I decided that I will wait for Hussain to go first and check how far he goes. Then I will not be answerable to anyone (especially Fortis). After Hussain went to pitch side, it made my job easier,” Dasgupta added.
India vs England 5th Test Day 1 updates
Meanwhile, the start of the second session on the opening day of the fifth Test was delayed due to rain. Early lunch was called due to rain as England made two vital breakthroughs and reduced India to 72/2 in the opening session.
With Ollie Pope captaining England in the match, the home team struck early, dismissing opener Yashasvi Jaiswal for two, who was trapped LBW in front of the wicket by pacer Gus Atkinson.
Pace bowler Chris Woakes then reduced India to 38/2 by cleaning up KL Rahul’s (14 off 40 balls) stumps. Sai Sudharsan and skipper Shubman Gill steadied the innings on an overcast day by scoring an unbeaten 25 and 15, respectively.