Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir was involved in a verbal spat with The Oval curator Lee Fortis two days before the fifth and final Test against England at the venue. Their heated talk turned into a controversy, which sparked reactions from the cricket fraternity.It all started when Fortis asked the Indian team to remain 2.5 meters away from the pitch while they were assessing the strip. Allegedly, the tone in which the curator conveyed his thoughts irked Gambhir, who lashed out at him.Gautam Gambhir yelled at Lee Fortis, advising him not to force his will in India's pre-match routine. He said (via ESPNCricinfo):"You stop it. You don't tell us what we need to do. You don't tell us what we need to do, okay. You don't need to tell us. You don't tell any of my squad what we need to do. You have no right to tell us. You're just a groundsman, you stay in your capacity. You are just a groundsman, nothing beyond. You are just a groundsman."The clip of Gautam Gambhir slamming Lee Fortis went viral on social media and attracted varied reactions from fans and experts. On that note, let's take a look at the top reactions by the cricket fraternity.#1 R AshwinFormer India spinner R Ashwin shared his thoughts on the controversy on his Hindi YouTube channel. As per Ashwin, England were already under pressure after failing to win at Manchester, and Lee Fortis' behavior reflected the same.The 38-year-old also disclosed that he knew the curator well and that he had done "similar" things during his playing career as well. He said:"I will not talk about what was said or what was discussed between the two parties. England were under a lot of pressure. This incident was a vehicle to release pressure. I know that groundsman really well, and this is not the first time this has happened. He is a bit like that and has done similar things in the past as well. Why does he do it? I don't know. He is a bit different." (14:45)#2 Michael VaughanFormer England captain Michael Vaughan favored Gautam Gambhir in his spat with Lee Fortis. He pointed out that Fortis used his heavy boots to walk through the pitch, but won't allow the players to just have a look at it.However, Vaughan opined that the groundsmen were particular about the grass cover and praised Fortis for his ability to prepare a "great" surface. During an interaction on Sony Sports Network, he said:"I would have been a lot more in the Gautam Gambhir kind of mode, of pointing the finger. Ground members are very precarious about the grass. It is a game of cricket. If you are going to play 11 vs 11 running around for five days, surely someone walking quite close to the surface is not going to affect the surface. We have had problems before and Lee (Fortis) is a great groundsman and he will produce a great pitch." (3:55)#3 Sunil GavaskarThe legendary Indian batter, Sunil Gavaskar also let his thoughts be known on the aforementioned interaction on Sony Sports Network. Gavaskar was surprised by Lee Fortis' behavior and opined that he had historically witnessed only the Lord's curator being restrictive of the surface. He said:"I think generally, like Shubman Gill said, that it has not happened for the previous four games. If at all, I think any curator has been a bit prickly, it has been at Lord's. Lord's is where they don't allow you to come in. This one was a bit of a surprise - what happened and why it happened." (3:10)Further, Gavaskar stated his belief that the captain and the coach should be allowed to have a look at the strip."The circumstances you don't know, but I would imagine that the coach and the captain, it is also an unwritten sort of rule that the coach and the captain can go and see the pitch, maybe not the whole squad. If the coach and the captain wanted to go and look at the pitch, I believe they should have been allowed," Gavaskar added.#4 Sourav GangulyFormer Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly also offered his take on the controversy. Ganguly failed to understand why Gautam Gambhir was fuming at the curator, as there had been varying interactions with the groundsmen in the past as well. He said:"I do not know why Gambhir was upset. I am sure all captains and coaches have had discussions with the groundsmen, sometimes happily, sometimes unhappily. It happened in my time, it will happen in future too. Let us not just make too much out of it. Hope India plays well and levels the series."#5 Aakash ChopraIn a video uploaded on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra pointed out that Lee Fortis stood on the pitch along with England head coach Brendon McCullum less than 48 hours ahead of the Ashes 2023 Test against Australia.Hence, Chopra found it "humiliating" that the Indian team were not even allowed to assess the pitch from a distance. He said:"It was the same curator in 2023, it was an Ashes match, and two days before that, he was standing on the pitch along with Brendon McCullum, the home team's coach. If he can stand on the pitch 48 hours before the game, can the Indian players not go even close to the pitch? Can the Indian coach not go and see how the pitch is? I find this absolutely bizarre. I find this actually humiliating." (3:37)Although Aakash Chopra feels there can be debate about Gautam Gambhir's choice of words, he knows what must have been going through his mind."There might be a question whether the choice of words was alright. This is about Gautam. Maybe that's not right because you need to be politically correct, as your designation is like that. However, I can totally understand what goes through a person's mind," Chopra added.