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 are not built by the state cricket association but date back to the rule of
NawabMuhammed Ali Khan Wallajah[4][15]
History
In 1859,
Madras Presidency acquired Chepauk palace in an auction for ₹589,000.[16][6] 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[17] and was utilized till 1982 when it was demolished as part of the stadium renovation.[6]
Chepauk Stadium was established in 1916 and has been the home venue of the Tamil Nadu cricket team ever since.[11] 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 the second week of January which was termed the Pongal Test, as it coincided with the
Pongal harvest festival.[18][19]
Renovations
In June 2010, reconstruction work of the stadium was taken up at the cost of ₹175 crore (US$21 million).[20][21] 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.[22]Hopkins Architects,
London and Nataraj & Venkat Architects,
Chennai were assigned contract by the
Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.[9]
The renovation was completed in 2011 and the old roofing with pillars that often blocked the view of spectators in the old stadium were replaced by light quad conical roofing held together by cables. The stadium could accommodate 50,000 spectators after the reconstruction.[23][24] The stands are at a gradient of 36° and lets the sea breeze in to get the ground's traditional swing back.[25]
On 31 March 2015, the
Supreme Court ruled that the renovation violates regulations relating to public safety.[26][27] 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.[28][29] 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.[30]
In December 2021, the old Anna pavilion, Anna pavilion stand and MCC clubhouse were demolished to make way for a new pavilion and new stands.[31] The demolition reduced capacity to 31,140.[32] Along with this, temporary seating and standing were removed and permanent seating was installed settling the capacity at 38,200.[31][1][2] This was done at a cost of ₹139 crore ($16.9 million).
The new KMK stand houses the Anna Pavilion at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, named after former Tamil Nadu chief minister
M. Karunanidhi. A cutting-edge indoor training facility is located on the ground floor of the redesigned Anna Pavilion. It was inaugurated on March 17, 2023, by the Tamil Nadu CM
M. K. Stalin accompanied by
Chennai Super Kings Captain
MS Dhoni. At that time, a new Madras Cricket Club stand was also completed.[33]
The TNCA has created an exception to honour the deceased five-time CM Karunanidhi, even though none of the stands are named after any former player, administrator, or politician. He died in 2018. Karunanidhi had a regular presence at games at Chepauk throughout his political career. He was elected as an MLA there during his last two terms as chief minister.
Lease
The total area of the stadium is 69,900 square metres (752,000 sq ft). This is under lease agreement between government and the association. In April 2015, the lease agreement between the government and association lapsed.[34]
In November 2019, the lease period of the stadium was extended by the Tamil Nadu government for 21 years from 2015.
Notable events
The first match of the
Ranji Trophy was held on 4 November 1934 between
Madras and
Mysore at Chepauk.[35]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.[36]
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.[39] As of July 2023, 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.[40]
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.[43]
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.[44]
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, their highest team total. 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.[45]
This stadium has hosted 12 Men's
One Day International matches across 4
World cup editions. 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: