M. A. Chidambaram Stadium IPL Records, History, Pitch Report, T20 Records

M. A. Chidambaram Stadium IPL Records, History, Pitch Report, T20 Records

M. A. Chidambaram Stadium or Chepauk Stadium is a cricket Stadium. The stadium is located in Chennai, India. The spiritual home of cricket in the state since the start of the Presidency matches in 1916, the MA Chidambaram Stadium, known for its sporting pitches.

It is better known as Chepauk Ground. The first test match played here was in 1933-34 between Douglas Jardine’s England and CK Naidu’s India. For long test matches at Chepauk were synonyms with the Pongal (Harvest) festival. History was made with the first ever Ranji Trophy match played at the venue when AG Ram Singh with 11 wickets, bowled Madras to victory over Mysore within a day.

India recorded their first win at the ground in 1951-52 when they defeated England by an innings and eight runs. Sunil Gavaskar has notched up his record-breaking 30^th 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.

But more than the records what stands out at Chepauk is the atmosphere and crowd. The Chepauk crowd is considered as the most knowledgeable and 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 the test match in 1999.

How Does The Pitch Play?

When the pitches were uncovered and unattended to, it used to helps the fast bowler. However, since India started playing the spin quartet of Bishan Singh Bedi, BS Chandrasekar, S Venkatraghavan and EAS Prasanna, the wickets were made spin-friendly. Taking a look at the stats gives you a clear indication as to what type of bowlers hold the aces on the Chepauk wicket.

Among the top 10 wicket takers at the ground nine of them are spinners and the only fast bowler included on the list was Kapil Dev. Anil Kumble with 48 wickets was at the top of the list followed very closely by Harbhajan Singh with 42 wickets.

ODI RECORDS 

 TEST RECORDS 

 T20 RECORDS 

Interesting Facts You Should Know About M.A. Chidambaram Stadium

The total area of the stadium is 7.52 lakh square feet. This is under a lease agreement between government & association. In April 2015 the lease agreement between government has lapsed.

For a long time, Chepauk hosted the famous Pongal (Harvest) Test. It used to be played in the month of January.

The second tied test in the history of cricket is played here between Indian and Australia in 1986.

Sunil Gavaskar went past Don Bradman’s 29 Test hundreds at this venue.

This ground was also witnessed to one of Sachin Tendulkar’s greatest Test innings. The Indian maestro battled back spasms and almost took his side home against Pakistan in 1999. But his 136 went in vain as the arch-rivals sealed a 12-run victory.