Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Chennai Stadium

The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium is a cricket stadium in Chennai (formerly Madras), India, named after M. A. Chidambaram, the former President of BCCI and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. The stadium was formerly known as Madras Cricket Club Ground or Chepauk Stadium. Commonly known as Chepauk, its first match was played February 10, 1934. This stadium is where the Indian cricket team won its first ever Test victory here in 1952 against England. It is the home ground of the Tamil Nadu cricket team.

The nature of the pitch at this ground is bouncy which offers something to both the bat and the ball in a country renowned for producing dry, low, spinning, flat wickets. In recent times, the wicket has got flatter.

The stadium witnessed history when only the second tied test was played here between India and Australian in 1986, which included Dean Jones making a heroic 210, Greg Matthews taking 10 wickets and Kapil Dev scoring an excellent century. Another famous moment was Saeed Anwar's record 194 against India in the Independence Cup on May 21, 1997. The stadium also witnessed dramatic scenes when 50,000 fans gave a standing ovation to the Pakistani cricket team in January 1999 after victory in a very closely fought test match.

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