The preparations for Sunday’s Cricket World Cup final between Australia and India will be supervised by Andy Atkinson, head pitch curator of the International Cricket Council (ICC), according to PTI.
Press Trust of India (PTI) has learned that Australia and India will play in Sunday’s Cricket World Cup final, which will be overseen by chief pitch curator Andy Atkinson of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The news agency first said that since Atkinson is departing India, the curators at BCCI are in charge of the pitch preparations. On the eve of the Cricket World Cup final, Atkinson will, according to PTI, be joining the curators of BCCI. Reportedly, Atkinson had claimed that the pitch used for the semi-final match between New Zealand and India had been altered from “fresh” to “used.”
“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,” PTI stated on Friday.
According to the source, a heavy roller is being used to make a sluggish track for the championship game, which could provide the first-batting team an advantage over the other. But the story didn’t say if the pitch would have a new surface or a used one.
“The purpose behind using a heavy roller on a black soil strip is to create a slow batting track where you can score lots of runs but may not be able to hit over the line regularly. 315 could be a manageable score but it will be challenging to bat second,” PTI cited a state association curator as saying.
Many Indian players engaged in a lengthy net session, one of them being captain Rohit Sharma. In the biggest cricket stadium in the world, Rohit was also observed chatting with the curators.
