The M.A. Chidambaram Stadium located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, is one of the most famous cricket venues in India. It was established 108 years ago in 1916, and currently, it is the country’s second oldest cricket stadium, after Eden Gardens. Here many international and domestic matches are held regularly. Let us explore more details about this historic cricket stadium in this article.
Overview
The M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, also known as Chepauk Stadium is owned and operated by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA). Initially, it was named the Madras Cricket Club Ground, but later it was renamed in honor of former BCCI president and TNCA head, M.A. Chidambaram. Here you can see some additional details about this venue:
| Location | Chepauk, Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
| Establishment | 1916 |
| Owner | Tamil Nadu Cricket Association |
| Capacity | 38,200 |
| Field shape | Round |
| Surface | Grass |
International Matches
Here are the first and last matches of different forms of cricket matches that have been organized in Eden Gardens Stadium:
| Format | Date | Match |
| First Test | 10–13 February 1934 | India v England |
| Last Test | 13–17 February 2021 | India v England |
| First ODI | 9 October 1987 | India v Australia |
| Last ODI | 27 October 2023 | Pakistan v South Africa |
| First T20I | 11 September 2012 | India v New Zealand |
| Last T20I | 11 November 2018 | India v West Indies |
| Only women’s Test | 7–9 November 1976 | India v West Indies |
| First WODI | 23 February 1984 | India v Australia |
| Last WODI | 5 March 2007 | Australia v New Zealand |
| First WT20I | 23 March 2016 | South Africa v Ireland |
| Last WT20I | 27 March 2016 | England v Pakistan |
Domestic Cricket
The M.A. Chidambaram Stadium is the home ground for the Tamil Nadu cricket team in domestic cricket tournaments like the Vijay Hazare Trophy. In the Indian Premier League, it is the home of one of the most successful franchise teams, Chennai Super Kings. Here are the IPL stats on this ground:
| Matches Played | 76 |
| Teams Won Batting First | 46 |
| Teams Won Chasing | 30 |
| Average First Innings Score | 163.18 |
| Highest Team Total | 246 |
| Highest Total Chased | 206 |
Pitch Report
The M.A. Chidambaram Stadium is well known for supporting the spin bowlers. There are only a few pavilions in India where we see the bowlers dominating the game instead of the batters. The pitch here gets slower as the match progresses and therefore toss winners often prefer batting first. In ODI matches played on this pitch, teams that play first often take the game, you can see it clearly in the stats:
| ODI matches played in Chidambaram | 262 |
| Average first innings score | 234 |
| Matches won after batting first | 15 |
| Matches won by chasing team | 11 |
History
The Madras Presidency in 1859, bought the Chepauk palace in an auction for INR 589,000 and a few years later, the Madras Cricket Club was granted the permission from government to build a pavilion. The Chepauk Stadium was established in 1916 and has been hosting both domestic and international matches ever since.
The first-ever international match on this ground was held on 10-13 February 1934 between India and England. The same year the first match of Ranji Trophy was also played here. This stadium remained functional until 1982 when it was demolished for renovation purposes. Along with a new look it also got a new name with time.
The M.A. Chidambaram stadium is special for the legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and his fans. Sachin has scored 876 runs (the highest he scored at any venue) here on this ground. Cricket fans have witnessed many memorable moments on this ground including the test match against the South Africa in 2008 where the Virender Sehwag played a knock of 319 runs and Rahul Dravid achieved the milestone of 10,000 test runs.