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Former India pace-bowling all-rounder Irfan Pathan lashed out at English pitch curator Lee Fortis who was involved in a heated altercation with India head coach Gautam Gambhir. The pitch curator at Kennington Oval, London, misbehaved with India support staff which irked Gambhir. Pathan reacted to the incident after India Champions' win over West Indies Champions at World Championship of Legends (WCL). He wondered whether England are still in the colonial era.
“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?" Pathan posted on X.
Pathan pointed out that the curator Fortis has been embroiled in controversy before. He feels that the English media is trying to villanise Gambhir, something they do with the touring things. He also mentioned a photo of England head coach Brendon McCullum standing on the pitch during the Ashes and slammed the curator's double standards.
“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.
India batting coach slams curator too
India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak in a press conference on July 29 explained how Fortis was rude to them. Kotak also pointed out that the curator has a history of being difficult.
"When we went to take a look at the wicket the coaches were there, someone came to us and said 'stand 2.5 metres away', which was little surprising. Day after there is a Test match, we had our joggers on not spike and it felt a bit awkward. I have never seen anything like that in my life.
"The Indian players had told me that he is not the easiest person to work with. Now you all know. It is okay to be protective and possessive about this pitch but not to this extent," said Kotak.
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