M. A. Chidambaram Stadium

M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, commonly known as the Chepauk Stadium, is a cricket stadium in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1916, it is the second oldest cricket stadium in the country after Eden Gardens in Kolkata. It is owned and operated by Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA). The stadium is located at Chepauk, a few hundred meters from Marina beach along the Bay of Bengal.

Formerly known as Madras Cricket Club Ground, the stadium is named after Muthiah Annamalai Chidambaram, the former president of BCCI and Head of TNCA. It is the home ground of the Tamil Nadu cricket team and the Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. Chepauk hosted its first Test match on 10 February 1934, hosted the first match of the first Ranji Trophy in 1934 and the Indian cricket team's first test victory in 1952 against England. The 1986 India-Australia match held at Chepauk was only the second ever Tied Test in the history of the game.

The stadium hosted the finals of IPL 2011, IPL 2012, and IPL 2024.

Location

The stadium can be accessed from Wallajah Road in the north, Bells Road in the west, Pycrofts Road in the south and Victoria Hostel Road parallel to the promenade of Marina Beach in the east. The stadium is connected through the Chennai Metro by the Government Estate station. It is also connected through the Chepauk MRTS Railway Station which lies on the Chennai Beach—Velachery section of the Chennai MRTS. The Buckingham Canal runs tangentially to the north side of the stadium.

Chepauk stadium is located across Chepauk Palace, the official residence of the Nawab of Arcot from 1768 to 1855. The stadium site used to be part of the palace grounds of the Chepauk Palace. Three Indo Saracenic style pillars at the entrance of the stadium are the last remnants of the association with the erstwhile palace grounds. The pillars are not built by the state cricket association but date back to the rule of Nawab Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah

History

In 1859, Madras Presidency acquired Chepauk palace in an auction for ₹589,000. In 1865, the government gave permission to build a pavilion at the palace grounds to Madras Cricket Club. The pavilion was finished in 1866. The pavilion was reconstructed in 1892 and was utilized till 1982 when it was demolished as part of the stadium renovation.

Chepauk Stadium was established in 1916 and has been the home venue of the Tamil Nadu cricket team ever since. It is the second oldest cricket stadium in the country after Eden Gardens in Kolkata, still holding all international cricket matches. Bombay Gymkhana being the first is not in use for international cricket.

From 1960 to 1988, Chennai hosted a Test match in the second week of January which was termed the Pongal Test, as it coincided with the Pongal harvest festival.

Renovations

In June 2010, reconstruction work of the stadium was taken up at the cost of ₹175 crore (US$21 million). The plan consisted of constructing three new reinforced concrete stands designated I, J, and K accommodating 12,000 spectators and 24 hospitality boxes under translucent PTFE membrane roofs. Hopkins Architects, London and Nataraj & Venkat Architects, Chennai were assigned contract by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.

The renovation was completed in 2011 and the old roofing with pillars that often blocked the view of spectators in the old stadium were replaced by light quad conical roofing held together by cables. The stadium could accommodate 50,000 spectators after the reconstruction. The stands are at a gradient of 36° and lets the sea breeze in to get the ground's traditional swing back.

On 31 March 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that the renovation violates regulations relating to public safety. The court ruled that the parts of the renovation which violate the regulations must be demolished and until the appropriate planning permissions are issued and the demolition is complete, three stands (I, J, K) must remain sealed. After their construction, cricket matches took place in the stadium with the I, J, and K stands locked for spectators. The stands were finally de-sealed and opened in March 2020.

In December 2021, the old Anna pavilion, Anna pavilion stand and MCC clubhouse were demolished to make way for a new pavilion and new stands. The demolition reduced capacity to 31,140. Along with this, temporary seating and standing were removed and permanent seating was installed settling the capacity at 38,200. This was done at a cost of ₹139 crore ($16.9 million).

The new KMK stand houses the Anna Pavilion at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, named after former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi. A cutting-edge indoor training facility is located on the ground floor of the redesigned Anna Pavilion. It was inaugurated on March 17, 2023, by the Tamil Nadu CM M. K. Stalin accompanied by Chennai Super Kings Captain MS Dhoni. At that time, a new Madras Cricket Club stand was also completed.

The TNCA has created an exception to honour the deceased five-time CM Karunanidhi, even though none of the stands are named after any former player, administrator, or politician. He died in 2018. Karunanidhi had a regular presence at games at Chepauk throughout his political career. He was elected as an MLA there during his last two terms as chief minister.

Lease

The total area of the stadium is 69,900 square metres (752,000 sq ft). This is under lease agreement between government and the association. In April 2015, the lease agreement between the government and association lapsed. In November 2019, the lease period of the stadium was extended by the Tamil Nadu government for 21 years from 2015.

Notable events

• The first match of the Ranji Trophy was held on 4 November 1934 between Madras and Mysore at Chepauk. M J Gopalan of Madras bowled the first ball to N Curtis.
• India recorded their first test victory, in their 24th match, against England at Chepauk in 1952.
• The second ever Tied Test in cricket history was played here between India and Australia in 1986.
• Sunil Gavaskar scored his 30th test match century in 1983 breaking Don Bradman's record for most centuries in test cricket.
• Narendra Hirwani's 8 wickets for 61 runs against the West Indies in January 1988 are the best bowling figures by an Indian on Test début and the third overall. As of July 2023, he is the only Indian cricketer to take ten or more wickets in Test debut. Hirwani's figures of 16 wickets for 136 runs in the match are a record for any bowler on début.
• Saeed Anwar of Pakistan scored 194 against India in 1997, the highest ODI score at that time.
• On 15 October 2004, Shane Warne surpassed Muttiah Muralitharan's tally of 532 Test wickets to become the highest wicket taker during the time.
• Virender Sehwag scored 319 against South Africa, in the home series in April 2008 in the first Test at M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, having reached 300 off just 278 balls, the fastest triple century in test history. Sehwag became only the third batsman after Donald Bradman and Brian Lara to score two triple centuries in Test Cricket. He scored 257 runs the third day of the match, which was the most runs scored by an individual batsman on a single day of a Test match since 1954, when Denis Compton made 273 runs on the second day of the Nottingham Test against Pakistan.
• Rahul Dravid completed 10,000 test runs in Chepauk Stadium against South Africa in the same match where Sehwag scored 319. Rahul Dravid eventually made a 100 in that test innings as well.
• Sachin Tendulkar has scored more runs in Chepauk than any other venue in India with 876 runs in nine Tests at an average of 87.60.
• On 22 March 2001, India defeated Australia by 2 wickets to clinch the Border Gavaskar Trophy following India's win in Kolkata which ended the 16 match winning streak of Australia in test matches.
• India's 387/4 in the fourth innings of the first Test against England in December 2008, became the highest successful run chase in a test match in India.
• Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored 224 in the 1st test against Australia in the home series on 24 February 2013. He is the first Indian Wicket-keeper Batsman to score a Double Century in Test Cricket and 7th Wicket-keeper in Test Cricket to do so. India finished the innings on 572.
• Karun Nair scored 303* not out in the 5th test against England in the home series on 19 December 2016. India declared in the innings on 759–7, their highest team total. He became the 6th youngest batsman to score 300 and the 2nd Indian (after Virender Sehwag) to do so.
• Joe Root scored 218 (337) in the 1st test against India in their away series on 6 February 2021. This made him score the highest score by an English cricketer in India, and also the highest score in the 100th test of any individual.

Statistics and Records

International Cricket Matches

Test Batting Records

Cricket World Cup

This stadium has hosted 12 Men's One Day International matches across 4 World cup editions. In addition, the stadium has also hosted a semifinal in the 1997 Women's Cricket World Cup.

The World cup matches hosted by this stadium are as follows:

Men's Cricket World Cup

1987 Cricket World Cup

1996 Cricket World Cup

2011 Cricket World Cup

2023 Cricket World Cup

Women's Cricket World Cup

Gallery

See also

• Lists of stadiums
• List of international cricket grounds in India
• List of stadiums in India
• List of cricket grounds by capacity
• List of international cricket five-wicket hauls at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
• Today Match Pitch Reports

References

External links

• Upcoming Matches at Chennai
• M.A Chidambaram Stadium Notable Events