As Sitanghshu Kotak, India's batting coach, said, The Oval's pitch curator, Lee Fortis, is not an easy man to handle. And Kotak was true. Battling sarcasm, double facesm and rudeness, It was kind of tough for Kotak himself to answer calmly with much civilized words in the press conference. Lee Fortis was no doubt the man of attention on the first practice session of India at the Oval. It was an optional day for India and had started around 9:30 in the morning, in UK time. England was in a good mood, dressed in trousers and no spikes, so that it might hamper a little sand on the ground, let alone the pitch. Before Fortis entered into a verbal altercation with the Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir, the England head coach Brendon McCullum had already inspected the pitch along with ECB's managing director Rob Key. The three had a chat and were well inside the 2.5 metre ring, with Fortis himself walking on the deck multiple times. Read also: India Reach WCL 2025 Semis After Binny, Pathan Heroics When sarcasm hit Gambhir, but kept volume low Being a coach, Gambhir too wanted to inspect the pitch. As per a report from RevSports, the clash started there, with a sarcastic remark from Fortis. As quoted by Boria Majumdar, the Rev Sports Journalist, "Indians were in actually good mood, like everyone. The visiting team goes up to the curator and asks what can they expect in the next 48 hours because it was match Day minus 2... And that's where, for no reason, Lee Fortis, decided to be sarcastic. And that's where he started provoking the Indians. He said, I am trying to paraphrase that, 'I will ensure I grow the grass more in the next couple of days on this wicket so you guys have trouble.'" This was the first pass of words until the 2.5 metre drama came. What Kotak said at the pressy was a modified version. When Gambhir tried to inspect the pitch, Lee clearly resisted them and instructed them to stay beyond the rope. As quoted by Majumdar, Fortis said, "Try and look at the wicket beyond the rope." The rope is almost 2.5 meters away from the pitch; that is around 8 feet or more. Read also: Shubman Gill nears major Test records at The Oval The icebox gate, and the cuss words from Gambhir The clip that went viral of Gambhir checking the big man Fortis was when the latter literally stopped a groundsman from bringing in a 10kg icebox to the ground. Indians asked for the box in the square, and Fortis straightaway instructed one of the support staff to not bring in the box. Fortis told the staff to bring the box from outside the boundary rope and to step inside the ground. As per Majumdar, Fortis said, "'Bring the icebox from outside the rope.' So walk all the rope from outside the boundary line and then bring it like that. You cannot walk inside the ground." And Gambhir broke there. He was seen quite animatedly with Fortis, trying to check the latter's attitude. The Ovala's groundsmen had threatened to lodge a complaint against Gambhir, even though India didn't do such an unnecessary thing. The Anderson-Tendulkar Test series, being hosted in the home of the so-called "spirit of the game," has been questioning the spirit at least since the handshake saga! The redefined rule books and authority under sarcasm seriously remind of the "colonial era," as mentioned by Irfan Pathan- the era when there used to be rules, but that worked in favour of the English! Fair enough, England still has a lead of one Test. Even though winning the series is totally out of the question for India, drawing this will still leave a statement that Indians are really "tough cookies." The final Test will start on July 31st, at The Oval, London.