M. A. Chidambaram Stadium

The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium is a cricket stadium in Chennai (formerly Madras), India, named after M. A. Chidambaram, the former President of BCCI and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. The stadium was formerly known as Madras Cricket Club Ground or Chepauk Stadium. Commonly known as Chepauk, its first match was played 10 February 1934. Built by the East Coast Constructions and Industries, this stadium is where the Indian cricket team won its first ever Test victory in 1952 against England. Sunil Gavaskar notched up his record breaking 30th Test hundred on this ground in 1983-84. The India-Australia encounter in 1986-87 ended in a tie - only the second in the game's long history. The next season, leg spinner Narendra Hirwani claimed the best match analysis by a player on Test debut, finishing with 16 for 136. The Chepauk crowd is known to be amongst the most appreciative in the country. This was proved when those present gave a standing ovation to Saeed Anwar after his record breaking 194 against India in the Independence Cup match in 1997 and again when Pakistan won a Test match in 1999. A truly overwhelmed Pakistani team even made a lap of honour in appreciation of the spectators' sporting behaviour. It is the home ground of the Tamil Nadu cricket team and also for the Chennai Super Kings which participate and won the Indian Premier League two times.

Location

The stadium is located at Chepauk, a few hundred meters from the seashore. The stadium is surrounded by major streets, namely, Wallajah Road, Bells Road and Pycrofts Road in the north, west and south, respectively. The nearest railway station is the Chepauk MRTS railway station which lies immediately next to the stadium in the eastern side. Incidentally, a major portion of the stadium is visible from the elevated railway station. The stadium is surrounded by several stately buildings, such as the Chepauk Palace, the University of Madras–Marina Campus, and the newly built Legislative Assembly building at the Omandurar Government Estate. The Buckingham Canal runs tangentially to the northeastern side of the stadium.

Ground Facts and Figures

• The first-ever Ranji Trophy match was played here, in which AG Ram Singh took 11 wickets on a sticky to bowl Madras to a win over Mysore within a day.
• India recorded its first Test win here, in 1951-52, when it defeated England by an innings and eight runs.
• The second tied Test in cricket's history was also played here, between India and Australia in 1986.^[2]
• Virender Sehwag's 319 against South Africa is the highest test score at the ground.
• This stadium played host to the second tied-test in the history of Test cricket.
• Saeed Anwar's 194 against India is the highest score on this ground. This was also the highest score in ODI's until Sachin Tendulkar reached the 200 landmark against South Africa.
• England hold the record for the highest score on the ground so far when they hit 652-7d runs against India.Incidentally, this also became the fourth highest in Test match history.^[3] The next highest score is by India who were all out for 627 runs against South Africa in 2008. The third highest is West Indies who were all out for 582 in 1949 against India in Tests.
• The Indians hold the record for the lowest score at the ground when England restricted them to just 83.
• Narendra Hirwani's match bowling figures of 16/136 currently are the best at the ground.
• Rahul Dravid scored his 10,000th Test run on this ground.
• India's 387/4 in the fourth innings of the first Test against England in December 2008, became the highest successful run chase in India.
• Sunil Gavaskar(1018 runs) had scored the most number of runs in this stadium followed by Sachin Tendulkar(876 runs) and Gundappa Vishwanath(785 runs) in Tests.
• Anil Kumble (48 wickets) had taken the most wickets in this stadium followed by Kapil Dev(40 wickets) and Harbhajan Singh(39 wickets) in Tests.

• It was in Chepauk, that Sachin Tendulkar scored his first century in the fourth innings in a winning cause for India.^[4]
• Sachin Tendulkar has scored more runs in Chepauk - 876 in nine Tests at an average of 87.60 - than any other venue in India.^[5]
• On 15 October 2004 Shane Warne surpassed Muttiah Muralitharan's tally of 532 Test wickets when he took the wicket of Irfan Pathan. It was his 533rd Test wicket taken in his 114th Test.
• On 22 March 2001 India defeated Australia by 2 wickets to clinch the Border-Gavaskar trophy after losing it to Australia in 1999-2000 series. A match winning century by Sachin Tendulkar and a record of 32 wickets in the Test series by Harbhajan Singh helped India to end the winning streak of Australia consecutively followed by an epic Kolkata test.Australia won 16 tests in succession.
• The highest ODI score here was made by Pakistan in 1997, where Saeed Anwar scored 194 runs. Pakistan scored 327-5, India replied with 292 all out, which is the second highest score here. The third highest score is 289-4 made by Australia against New Zealand .
• Yuvraj Singh has scored the most number of runs here with 255 runs in ODIs. He is followed by Geoff Marsh(246 runs) and Saeed Anwar(194 runs).
• Mohammad Rafique has taken the most number of wickets(14 wickets), followed by Ajit Agarkar and Morne Morkel(7 wickets each).
• Sachin Tendulkar has scored the most centuries at chepauk hitting 5 centuries

2010 Major Renovation

On 28 June 2009, decision to start reconstruction work for setting up state-of-art facilities and an increased spectator capacity of 45,000 over the existing 36,000 was taken, the cost of which is Rs 175 crore.^[6][7] The project comprises three new reinforced concrete stands accommodating 10,000 spectators and 24 hospitality boxes under translucent PTFE membrane roofs.

Natraj & Venkat Architects (NVA) in Chennai and Hopkins Architects in London, have been contracted by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association to upgrade the stadium before the 2011 ICC World Cup and bring the swing back, for which the stadium is notable,^[1]

• covering and area of 40,000 m²;
• increasing the existing capacity to 50,000;
• translucent fabric roof structures for shade over the stands;
• providing additional corporate boxes and airconditioned accommodation;
• horizontal gap between the lower terrace and the upper stands to allow the sea breeze into the stadium from the east.

The stadium will cost around 1,920 million when work is fully complete, planned in four phases. Huge pillars that often blocked the view in the old stadium have been replaced by the light state-of-the-art roof called Quad Conical Geometric Form which is held together by cables imported from China. The designer was Bird Air, an American firm, while engineers from Australia (from Tyio Membrane) have carried out the installation work. The stadium can accommodate 38,000 spectators. This will increase to 42,000 once work at the TNCA pavilion and the MCC stand is over. The stadium sports as many as nine new stands. These consist of three tiers with the middle one, fully air-conditioned, being the hospitality box. The media box can seat 200 presspersons. The media conference hall can accommodate around 300 persons. The stands are at a gradient of 36 degrees, which is not too steep by international standards.^[8] The renovation lets the sea breeze in to get the ground's traditional swing back - all this while adhering to the principles of vaastu, and Indian form of feng shui, in design. The plan is to create a series of 12 stands atop a lower bowl of terracing, so the breeze can flow through the horizontal gap between the terrace and the stands.

Cricket World Cup

This stadium has hosted One Day International (ODI) matches every time India has hosted the Cricket World Cup. The World cup matches hosted by this stadium are as follows:

1987 Cricket World Cup

1996 Cricket World Cup

2011 Cricket World Cup

Gallery

Before redevelopment

After redevelopment

See also

• List of Test cricket grounds
• List of international cricket centuries at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium
• List of IPL matches played at M.A Chidambaram Stadium

References

External links

• Upcoming Matches at Chennai
• Cricinfo - Grounds - MA Chidambaram Stadium
• M.A Chidambaram Stadium Notable Events
• All about Chidambaram stadium
• Reference
• Players,Teams statistics