M. A. Chidambaram Stadium

M. A. Chidambaram 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. Formerly known as Madras Cricket Club Ground, the stadium is named after M. A. Chidambaram Chettiar, former President of BCCI & Head of TNCA. It is also nicknamed as Chepauk Stadium. 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, the first Ranji Trophy match in 1936 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.
Location.
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 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 construction are dated back to the rule of Nawab Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah
History.
In 1859, Madras Presidency acquired Chepauk palace in an auction for Rs 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 second week of January and was termed the Pongal Test as the match coincided with the Pongal harvest festival.
Crowd.
The Chepauk crowd is known to be amongst the most appreciative in the country. 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.
Renovation.
In June 2009, reconstruction work of the stadium was taken up at the cost of . 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 contracted by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.
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.
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.
Lease.
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.
In November 2019, the lease period of the stadium was extended by the Tamilnadu government for 21 years from 2015.
Cricket World Cup.
This stadium has hosted 7 Men's One Day International matches across 3 world cups. 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 ODI Cricket World Cup.
1987 Cricket World Cup
1996 Cricket World Cup
2011 Cricket World Cup