Kolkata: A 27-member ICC team on Thursday expressed satisfaction over the ongoing renovation and construction work at the Eden Gardens, which is scheduled to host four group matches of the World Cup.
Divided into a group of eight, the team held meetings with CAB officials, pitch curator, ground staff, senior police officials and hospitality in-charge during a day-long inspection.
They also visited the police headquarters at Lalbazaar and the World Cup practice venue at Salt Lake to complete the final phase of their visit across all eight Indian venues.
None of the team members, however, spoke to the media.
The ICC media and communications operations manager Sami-ul-Hasan said the team was not allowed to brief the press at this stage.
"Having already inspected seven venues, this is the final inspection in India. We leave for Chittagong tomorrow for inspection in Bangladesh. Thereafter, we will submit a final report," Sami said.
Stressing that the progress of the renovation and construction work was not slow, CAB joint-secretary Biswarup Dey said the work will be finished by January 15 and the team was happy with the inspection.
"Considering that Rs 50 crore has been spent over six months in civil engineering work, we hope that the stadium will be ready by January 15, more than a month before the first match is scheduled to take place here," Dey told reporters.
"They were particularly impressed to see the dressing room layout," he added.
Stating that the team was also satisfied with the security arrangements, which would be managed entirely by the Kolkata Police, he said, the teams would be flown to the stadium from their hotel by private helicopter.
Eden Gardens is scheduled to host four group matches -- India v England on February 27, Ireland v South Africa on March 15, Ireland v Netherlands on March 18 and Kenya v Zimbabwe on March 20.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Hqs) Jawed Shamim said, "We had the first round of talks with them and will meet again in the middle of January when, as per information, the renovation work will be complete."
He added that there would be some more talks with the ICC and BCCI before security system will get the final shape.
"We will have some more talks with ICC and BCCI officials before giving the security system final shape," he said.
