Indian coach Gautam Gambhir has been caught up in a heated clash with The Oval ground staff just days out from the final Test of the spiteful Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
In vision shared widely online, a frustrated Gambhir can be seen gesturing at head groundsman Lee Fortis and telling him to “f**k off” during his verbal tirade.
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“Go report whatever you want, go f**k off,” Gambhir can be heard telling Fortis.
“You don’t tell us what we need to do.”
The clash then escalated when Fortis threatened to report Gambhir to the match referee.
“You don’t tell us what to do. You’re just the groundsman, stay in your capacity!” Gambhir could be heard saying.
“Don’t swear again or I have to report you to the match referee,” Fortis then replies.
India hit back in Eng’s early draw push | 01:41
It remains unclear what sparked the confrontation at India’s optional session at The Oval on Tuesday.
But early reports indicate staff had questioned the presence of the Indian players and coaches in that part of the ground.
The spat comes at a time tensions between the two sides is at boiling point after England’s “spirit of the game” was questioned in the drawn Fourth Test.
Ben Stokes’ men were accused of acting like “sore losers” on day five of the Manchester Test when India refused to end an early draw – and instead allow Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, who were unbeaten on 89 and 80 respectively, to reach triple figures.
Stokes was left clearly fuming at the decision to bat on; instead taking his main bowlers off and deploying Harry Brook.
“You’re going to get a Test hundred against Harry Brook?” Stokes could be heard asking.
“What do you want me to do, just walk off,” Jadeja had replied.
Already this series Gambhir has come under fire for his fiery press conference after that fourth Test draw.
Former batsman Sanjay Manjrekar even urged the head coach to “take a chill pill” after he clashed with reporters over questions on skipper Shubman Gill’s batting and leadership.
England are holding a 2-1 series lead heading into the final Test at The Oval starting on Thursday.
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