ICC Consultant Who Accused 'Pitch Swapping' To Oversee Preparations For Final: Report

Earlier, news agency PTI had reported that ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson had left India ahead of the Cricket World Cup final

What will be ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson's future was a question floating around as the burly New Zealander was nowhere to be seen during pitch preparation 48 hours ahead of the World Cup final between India and Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. It has been learnt that Atkinson has arrived in Ahmedabad Friday afternoon and he will join the preparations tomorrow. This comes after news agency PTI had reported that Atkinson had left India ahead of the final.

"Andy hasn't gone back home. He has come with ICC delegation today afternoon and hence didn't come to the ground. He will be available tomorrow to check on the preparation of the track," an ICC source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Atkinson isn't exactly a favourite with the BCCI brass after he accused the host nation of changing track for the semi-final between India and New Zealand from a fresh to a used one.

However, the ICC later sent a clarification that there is no such rule of holding knock-out matches on a fresh track and Atkinson was apprised of the development in advance.

On Friday, the two senior BCCI's chief of ground staff Ashish Bhowmick and his second in command Taposh Chatterjee, along with former India seamer and BCCI's GM (Domestic Cricket) Abbey Kuruvilla, closely monitored the pitch preparations for the mega final on Sunday.