Ugly spat between Gambhir and Oval curator adds spice to India-Eng finale

India's training session two days before the series deciding fifth Test against England became a sideshow as head coach Gautam Gambhir got involved in a heated verbal spat with The Oval's chief curator Lee Fortis who allegedly asked the visiting team's support staff to stand 2.5 visitors from the pitch.

- AGENCIES

Gambhir was on Tuesday heard telling Fortis "you don't tell any of us what we need to do, you have no right to tell us, you are just a groundsman nothing beyond" while pointing fingers at the chief curator. In response Fortis was heard saying "I will have to report this."

In the presence of 10 squad members minus captain Shubman Gill, the training session in the field of play was going on as usual until Gambhir blasted Fortis, who is not the "easiest person to work with" despite winning ECB's best multi-day pitches award for the last three years.