'I was made a villain...': Oval pitch curator Lee Fortis breaks silence on heated verbal exchange with Gautam Gambhir

Lee Forts, who is the pitch curator at The Oval, has opened up about his heated verbal exchange with India head coach Gautam Gambhir two days before the fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy commenced. Just a week ago, a video showing Fortis and Gambhir arguing on the middle of the field went viral on social media. It was later revealed that the argument took place because Fortis wasn't happy with the Indian players and coaches standing too close to the pitch during their optional practice session.

Gambhir and Fortis had quite a heated exchange

This would soon result in a heated argument where Gambhir was heard repeatedly telling Fortis that he was 'just a groundsman and nothing more'. Before the argument got messier, India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak intervened in between the duo and had a chat with Fortis. However, this didn't stop Gambhir from getting even more angry and he even asked Kotak to not get into a discussion with the curator.

According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, Gambhir lost his temper and told Fortis that, "You stop it. You don't tell us what we need to do. You have no right to tell us. You're just a groundsman—stay in your capacity. Nothing beyond. You are just a groundsman.”

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Now, Fortis has finally broken his silence on the matter and has stated that he was made the villain for absolutely no reason. He further remarked that he was very happy seeing the electric atmosphere at The Oval during the match.