One of cricket’s most renowned venues, the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai is home to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) IPL team. It bears the name of Shri MA Chidambaram, who served as the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association’s and BCCI’s previous president. We will discuss the pitch report of MA Chidambaram in this article. We will also discuss the stats, records, and various other details along with the pitch report. Therefore, let’s not waste any time and jump right into the article.
MA Chidambaram Stadium Pitch Report – History and Overview
With more than 33,500 seats, it is the oldest continuously operating cricket stadium in India, having opened in 1916. The stadium is more widely referred to as Chepauk Stadium.
On April 23, 2008, it hosted its first IPL match between CSK and the Mumbai Indians (MI). In their 20 overs, the hosts amassed 208 points. MI lost the game by six runs as a result of their inability to score more than 202 in reply.
Before being renamed MA Chidambaram Stadium, the stadium was known as the Madras Cricket Club Ground or Chepauk Stadium when it was first constructed in 1916. The Ranji Trophy, India’s premier domestic first-class competition, held its inaugural match on this ground in 1934, and it remains historic to this day.
India lost to England in 1934 in the first Test match held at the stadium. In 1986, the stadium’s name was inscribed in history when it hosted the second-ever match between any two teams. India and Australia, the hosts, were the teams that participated in the 1986 tied test. A few years later, in 2008, Virender Sehwag became the first Indian player to achieve the highest score.
MA Chidambaram Stadium Pitch Report – General Information
Due to the stadium’s proximity to Chennai’s well-known Marina Beach, the sea breeze frequently has a significant effect on the field’s performance. The Chepauk Palace, which was the Nawab of Arcot’s official residence from 1768 to 1855, is located directly across the stadium. The stadium currently stands on what was once the Chepauk Palace’s palace grounds. Even now, the residents affectionately refer to the stadium as the Chepauk. The stadium can now hold up to 50,000 people thanks to recent renovations that increased its capacity from about 38,000. The stadium’s two ends are known as the V Pattabhiraman Gate End and the Anna Pavilion End.
MA Chidambaram Stadium – Trivia
Prior to Sachin Tendulkar hitting the 200 mark against South Africa in 2010, Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar set a record-breaking high score of 194 against India in men’s ODIs.
On this field, Rahul Dravid of India scored his 10,000th Test run.
In 1983–84, Sunil Gavaskar of India achieved a record-breaking thirty Test hundreds on this field.
After finishing with 16 for 136 against the West Indies in 1988, Indian leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani claimed the title of best match analysis by a player making their Test debut.
This stadium witnessed Karun Nayar’s first Test century which later turned into a triple century against England in 2016. He went on to become the second Indian with a triple century in a Test match.
MA Chidambaram Stadium Pitch Report
The Chennai pitch has a long history of helping spinners with turn and bounce. The central square, which consists of eight pitches, has been redone several times since 2002, though. In response to low bounce caused by a clay-soil content, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association returned to red soil in 2014.
The hitters take a little while to get used to the slow pitch early on because the Pacers don’t get enough bounce from the surface. While teams in the Indian T20 league generally like to bowl first after winning the toss, this hasn’t always been the winning strategy. Since 2019, the average first-innings winning score in the Indian T20 league has been approximately 165, while the average first-innings score has been 150. Although the number of wickets taken by pacers and spinners has been equal since 2019, there is a significant disparity in the economy and strike rates of the two groups.
MA Chidambaram Stadium – Stats
We will discuss some of the interesting stats the stadium holds across various formats of cricket.
India T20
Matches Played: |
85 |
Batting First Won: |
47 |
Batting Second Won: |
36 |
Average First Innings Score: |
164 |
Average Second Innings Score: |
150 |
Wickets Taken by Pacers: |
572 |
Wickets Taken by Spinners: |
357 |
Pacers Wicket Percentage: |
61.57% |
Spinners Wicket Percentage: |
38.43% |
T20I
Matches Played: |
9 |
Batting First Won: |
6 |
Batting Second Won: |
2 |
Average First Innings Score: |
159 |
Average Second Innings Score: |
139.5 |
Wickets Taken by Pacers: |
43 |
Wickets Taken by Spinners: |
47 |
Pacers Wicket Percentage: |
47.78% |
Spinners Wicket Percentage: |
52.22% |
ODI
Matches Played: |
39 |
Batting First Won: |
18 |
Batting Second Won: |
20 |
Average First Innings Score: |
216.5 |
Average Second Innings Score: |
199 |
Wickets Taken by Pacers: |
327 |
Wickets Taken by Spinners: |
187 |
Pacers Wicket Percentage: |
63.62% |
Spinners Wicket Percentage: |
36.38% |
Test
Matches Played: |
36 |
Batting First Won: |
13 |
Batting Second Won: |
10 |
Average First Innings Score: |
377.5 |
Average Second Innings Score: |
246.5 |
Average Third Innings Score: |
306.5 |
Average Fourth Innings Score: |
98.5 |
Wickets Taken by Pacers: |
421 |
Wickets Taken by Spinners: |
608 |
Pacers Wicket Percentage: |
40.91% |
Spinners Wicket Percentage: |
59.09% |
IPL Trivia
Here are some of the interesting MA Chidambaram IPL trivia that you can take a look at.
Total Centuries Scored in IPL
Batsman | Score | Opposition | Year |
Murali Vijay | 127 | RR | 2010 |
Shane Watson | 101 | CSK | 2013 |
Suresh Raina | 100 | KXIP | 2013 |
Brendon McCullum | 100 | SRH | 2015 |
Ruturaj Gaikwad | 108 | LSG | 2024 |
Marcus Stoinis | 124* | CSK | 2024 |
Best Bowling Figures in IPL
At this stadium, Andre Russell’s 2021 5-for-15 against MI still stands as his best bowling stat.
Despite his valiant efforts, the middle order collapsed and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) lost the match by 10 runs while chasing 152.
Summary
Hope you have enjoyed reading the pitch report, stats, and trivia on the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. We hope to come up with more pitch reports to help you with placing bets in the future. Meanwhile, go through the pitch report and get familiar with the conditions of the pitch and the previous records. For more such informative articles, follow Exchmarket’s blog section.