Gautam Gambhir, chief curator clash at The Oval

[kepler37b]

"Your are just a grounds man, stay in your limits.." is unacceptable. That reeks of feudalist mindset. If he said this in the way it is reported, without being abused before in the same fashion, deserves a censure.  

 

I hope BCCI also censures him and imposes a heavy fine. Not to virtue signal to goras, but to indicate our commitment to dignity of labour.

 

[lemsip]

21 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

I know this guy has a bad reputation. Is he credible here?

Boria is a buffoon - maybe more polished than the others in his team. He was also trying to bait Kotak in the press conference by suggesting that the curator had asked "Is Gambhir a good man" when it was actually one of Boria's journalists who had asked the groundsman.

The bottom line is so what if the groundsman is an awkward guy who spoke harshly while asking them to mind the pitch. There is absolutely no need to make this into some major issue 2 days before the test. These things can and should be handled discreetly behind the scenes not made into a media story.

Once Gambhir got involved and lost his rag, things were always going to escalate. The transcript of his remarks is now on cricinfo and "youre just a groundsman" remarks are likely to inflame the situation even further for no good reason.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/gambhir-involved-in-verbal-altercation-with-surrey-groundsman-ahead-of-oval-test-1497235

 

Edited July 29, 2025 by lemsip

[Vancouver]

Even if he is correct he should not point a finger and use words like ‘you are just a …… ‘

 

Why not keep hands in pocket and smile back and say we are not wearing spikes and take it easy. or simply ignore him.

 

Why is Gambhir always Gambhir. 

Edited July 29, 2025 by Vancouver

[lemsip]

18 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

This video indicates curator was biased

 

 

Shock horror -groundsman favours the home team !! That is to be expected and happens in all countries including India. It's called home advantage.

It is hardly something to be shocked by. Again, a totally normally event is being converted into a "Big Breaking" story for clicks. None of this fighting will do anything to help India's chances in the Oval test. If it has an impact at all, it is very likely to be a negative one.

 

[Chaos]

Before going after gambhir…we dont know what groundsman said to him or others. So dont post bs. Atleast he can reply back unlike some other meek losers in india.

[Bigg Brother]

Kotak confirmed that Curator was shouting on suport staff when they were bringing cooling box. GG found it condenceding . Haggrid ko pel diya fir 

[IndianRenegade]

8 minutes ago, lemsip said:

Boria is a buffoon - maybe more polished than the others in his team. He was also trying to bait Kotak in the press conference by suggesting that the curator had asked "Is Gambhir a good man" when it was actually one of Boria's journalists who had asked the groundsman.

The bottom line is so what if the groundsman is an awkward guy who spoke harshly while asking them to mind the pitch. There is absolutely no need to make this into some major issue 2 days before the test. These things can and should be handled discreetly behind the scenes not made into a media story.

Once Gambhir got involved and lost his rag, things were always going to escalate. The transcripts of his remarks is now on cricinfo and "youre just a groundsman" remarks are likely to inflame the situation even further for no good reason.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/gambhir-involved-in-verbal-altercation-with-surrey-groundsman-ahead-of-oval-test-1497235

 

yes some of the questions were childish, but the curator clearly dodged the most important question what was his side of the story, now why is that?

[express bowling]

Let's find out the full details of what transpired, including the events that occurred prior to this altercation, before passing strong judgements on Gambhir.

Edited July 29, 2025 by express bowling

[lemsip]

4 minutes ago, IndianRenegade said:

yes some of the questions were childish, but the curator clearly dodged the most important question what was his side of the story, now why is that?

That doesn't surprise me. He was clearly not media trained and under no obligation to give any "side to the story" to the youtubers thrusting cameras into his face. His job is to tend to the ground not deal with the media and he seemed to be trying to say as little as he could to get away  from the masala hungry journos.

Edited July 29, 2025 by lemsip

[lemsip]

3 minutes ago, express bowling said:

Let's find out the full details of what transpired, including the events that occurred prior to this altercation, before passing strong judgements on Gambhir.

You are very unlikely to get the surrey or ECB version of events here as a minor argument is a non event. So all the versions you will hear will be mainly from Indian youtubers and commentators. Most of these will play the biased groundsman vs defender of the faithful Gambhir angle

[IndianRenegade]

20 minutes ago, lemsip said:

Shock horror -groundsman favours the home team !! That is to be expected and happens in all countries including India. It's called home advantage.

It is hardly something to be shocked by. Again, a totally normally event is being converted into a "Big Breaking" story for clicks. None of this fighting will do anything to help India's chances in the Oval test. If it has an impact at all, it is very likely to be a negative one.

 

lol your entire argument is disingenuous. This isn't about the groundsman preparing a wkt that favors the home team or even passing suggestions on how the wkt might behave. Per this version the grounds man barred the ICT to be anywhere near the pitch i.e. they should be 2.5 mtrs away from the pitch while allowing the english access to the pitch. Exactly what rule allows him to do that? 

 

if this is totally normal when was the last time the opposition team was refused access to the pitch, Cummins was famously photographed inspecting the WC finals pitch before the game, if this kind of behavior was totally normal why would the indian team which is accused of rigging the pitch allow him anywhere close to the pitch?

 

while this could have been handled without swearing, if the indian team's version is true, this needs be made big. refusing access to inspect the pitch is cheating.

Edited July 29, 2025 by IndianRenegade

[lemsip]

1 minute ago, IndianRenegade said:

if this is totally normal when was the last time the opposition team was refused access to the pitch

India were not refused access to the pitch though.

All we had was an  encounter between an officious and grumpy groundsman protective of the playing square ( which is alongside he practice facilities at the Oval) and a thin skinned and prickly coach. 

In fact both the Indian captain and coach will get another chance to inspect the pitch again tomorrow as will England so this is a complete red herring.

[IndianRenegade]

14 minutes ago, lemsip said:

That doesn't surprise me. He was clearly not media trained and under no obligation to give any "side to the story" to the youtubers thrusting cameras into his face. His job is to tend to the ground not deal with the media and he seemed to be trying to say as little as he could to get away  from the masala hungry journos.

Then don't stand in front fo the media. Just say I am not giving any interviews & move on.

[express bowling]

6 minutes ago, lemsip said:

You are very unlikely to get the surrey or ECB version of events here as a minor argument is a non event. 

 

So, if full information is not available, and it is a minor argument, then what is the need to pass judgement  ?

 

My bigger concern is whether we were denied access to the pitch for inspection. That is definitely not the norm in any country.

 

 

[Vickydev]

Non issue, move on. The common doesn't care about this Gambo

[lemsip]

1 minute ago, IndianRenegade said:

Then don't stand in front fo the media. Just say I am not giving any interviews & move on.

He was not standing in front of any "media" i. They were random youtubers  with phones who cornered him and started questioning him when he clearly neither that keen to engage nor prepared for. For people without media training, negotiating this type of encounter is not easy as this doesn't usually happen with the local cricket media. The level of enthusiasm and coverage for cricket stories in India is on another planet compared to England where cricket is still a minor sport. Most people living around me wouldn't even be aware there is a cricket series going on with India nor name any England players. England women winning the Euros in football is by far the biggest story here at the moment. No one really cares about the Surrey groundsman vs Gambhir and it is not going to get anywhere near the coverage it will ge in India.

[adi B]

I am within Gambhir on this ,he's an Indian ,i'll support him and trust his words anyday against those Charlatan ,Self Entitled Angrez!!

*ers Ruled over our land for 250 years with the utmost disdain and we still have people with Gora slave mentality over here in ICF .

Forget gambhir , I would have stood for even the most Unlikeable bloke in this Indian Set up against that Angrez 

[IndianRenegade]

19 minutes ago, lemsip said:

India were not refused access to the pitch though.

All we had was an  encounter between an officious and grumpy groundsman protective of the playing square ( which is alongside he practice facilities at the Oval) and a thin skinned and prickly coach. 

In fact both the Indian captain and coach will get another chance to inspect the pitch again tomorrow as will England so this is a complete red herring.

But they were. The team explicity claimed they were asked to be 2.5 mtrs away from the pitch, nothing will be visible from that distance so they are being refused access.

while Boria states at 9:30 McCullum was allowed to inspect the pitch, while the Indian team wasn't. There is more to pitches than how it appears a day before the game. If one team is allowed access to that while the other is refused it is a blatant attempt to cheat & you are being desperate here.

 

 

its funny how it works, your entire argument is nothing wrong happened from the english curator its a minor issue it escalated because of gambhir but eglish side won't comment abt what the curator actually said before gambhir's involvement but everyone needs to accept there wasn't anything escalatory from his end.

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2025 by IndianRenegade

[IndianRenegade]

7 minutes ago, lemsip said:

He was not standing in front of any "media" i. They were random youtubers  with phones who cornered him and started questioning him when he clearly neither that keen to engage nor prepared for. For people without media training, negotiating this type of encounter is not easy as this doesn't usually happen with the local cricket media. The level of enthusiasm and coverage for cricket stories in India is on another planet compared to England where cricket is still a minor sport. Most people living around me wouldn't even be aware there is a cricket series going on with India nor name any England players. England women winning the Euros in football is by far the biggest story here at the moment. No one really cares about the Surrey groundsman vs Gambhir and it is not going to get anywhere near the coverage it will ge in India.

dude, don't insult everyone's intelligence. there was a whole stadium behind him. No one cornered him or blocked him. He weas free to walk away any moment he chose, if in fact if saw the video, he did walk away at one point.

Edited July 29, 2025 by IndianRenegade

[Lord]

5 minutes ago, adi B said:

I am within Gambhir on this ,he's an Indian ,i'll support him and trust his words anyday against those Charlatan ,Self Entitled Angrez!!

*ers Ruled over our land for 250 years with the utmost disdain and we still have people with Gora slave mentality over here in ICF .

Forget gambhir , I would have stood for even the most Unlikeable bloke in this Indian Set up against that Angrez 

Curator was wrong but its GG's classist jibe that is being talked about. Its wrong and there is no back it just because hes Indian

 

There are better way to handle these things