M. A. Chidambaram Stadium

A match going on at the MAC stadium

The stadium is located at Chepauk, a few hundred meters from Marina beach along the Bay of Bengal. The stadium can be accessed from Wallajah Road in the north, Babu Jagjivanram Road in the west and Pycrofts Road in the south. Adjacent to the east of the stadium is the Chepauk MRTS railway station which lies on the Chennai Beach—Velachery section of the Chennai MRTS. The Cooum river runs tangentially to the north side of the stadium.

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.

The Chepauk crowd is known to be amongst the most appreciative in the country.[3] The crowd gave a standing ovation to Saeed Anwar after scoring the highest ever ODI score of 194 against India in 1997. The crowd was again appreciative when Pakistan won a Test match in 1999 and the Pakistani team made a lap of honour in appreciation of the spectators' sporting behaviour.[3]

Newly renovated stands with fabric tensile roofs

In June 2009, reconstruction work of the stadium was taken up at the cost of ₹175 crore (US$25 million).[4][5] 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.[6] Hopkins Architects, London and Nataraj & Venkat Architects, Chennai were contracted by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.[2]

The renovation was completed in 2011 and the old roofing with pillars that often blocked the view in the old stadium were replaced by light quad conical roofing held together by cables. The stadium can currently accommodate 50,000 spectators. The stands are at a gradient of 36° and lets the sea breeze in to get the ground's traditional swing back.[7]

On 31 March 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that the renovation violates regulations relating to public safety.[8][9] 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.[10][11] 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.[12]

The total area of the stadium is 752,000 square feet. This is under lease agreement between government and the association. In April 2015, the lease agreement between the government and association lapsed. [13] Recently ( November 2019) the Lease period of the stadium is extended by the Tamilnadu government for 21 years from 2015.

• The first match of the Ranji Trophy was held on 4 November 1934 between Madras and Mysore at Chepauk.[14] 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.[15]
• The second ever Tied Test in cricket history was played here between India and Australia in 1986.[16]
• Sunil Gavaskar scored his 30th test match century in 1983 breaking Don Bradman's record for most centuries in test cricket.[17]
• 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.[18] As of December 2014, 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.[19]
• Saeed Anwar of Pakistan scored 194 against India in 1997, the highest ODI score at that time.[20][21]
• 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.[22]
• 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.[23]
• 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. 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.[24]

This stadium has hosted 7 One Day International matches across 3 world cups. The World cup matches hosted by this stadium are as follows:

1987 Cricket World Cup

Main article: 1987 Cricket World Cup

9 October 1987 Scorecard

Australia  270/6 (50 overs)

v

India 269 (49.5 overs)

Australia won by 1 run MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Madras

13 October 1987 Scorecard

Australia  235/9 (50 overs)

v

Zimbabwe 139 (49.4 overs)

Australia won by 96 runs MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Madras

1996 Cricket World Cup

Main article: 1996 Cricket World Cup

11 March 1996 Scorecard

New Zealand  286/9 (50 overs)

v

Australia 289/4 (47.5 overs)

Australia won by 6 wickets MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

2011 Cricket World Cup

Main article: 2011 Cricket World Cup

20 February 2011 Scorecard

Kenya  69 (23.5 overs)

v

New Zealand 72/0 (8 overs)

New Zealand won by 10 wickets MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

6 March 2011 Scorecard

England  171 (45.4 overs)

v

South Africa 165 (47.4 overs)

England won by 6 runs MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

17 March 2011 (D/N) Scorecard

England  243 (48.4 overs)

v

West Indies 225 (44.4 overs)

England won by 18 runs MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

20 March 2011 (D/N) Scorecard

India  268 (49.1 overs)

v

West Indies 188 (43 overs)

India won by 80 runs MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

• List of Test cricket grounds
• List of international cricket centuries at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium
• List of international cricket five-wicket hauls at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium

Wikimedia Commons has media related to M. A. Chidambaram Stadium.

• Upcoming Matches at Chennai
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