M. Chinnaswamy Stadium

Other Titles: Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium

Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Opening: 1969

Capacity: 40000

National Team: India National Cricket Team

Domestic team: Karnataka cricket team

Domestic team: Royal Challengers Bangalore

Review at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium

At the moment, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium is one of the best cricket stadiums in India. It is built in the center of the city of Bangalore (Karnataka) – the largest industrial and scientific center of the country. The Karnataka State Cricket Association manages the stadium; the venue can accommodate up to 40,000 spectators. Karnataka cricket team and Royal Challengers Bangalore play their home matches here. We tell you about this site in more detail, about its construction, history and about the records that its stands have seen.

Construction and history of M. Chinnaswamy Stadium

The construction was announced in 1969, and it began in 1970. The ground was originally named Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium but was later renamed in honor of the official Mangalam Chinnaswamy, who led the development of cricket in the state of Karnataka for almost four decades and also sponsored the construction of the stadium.

• The ground was first used for a first-class game in the 1972-73 season.
• In the 1974-75 season, the stadium received the right to host Test cricket matches and for the first time hosted the match of the Indian national team with the West Indies, even though the site was not completed at that time to the end. That game was also the debut for Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards, who later became West Indies stars.
• The first ODI match was held at the stadium in 1982; India’s opponent was Sri Lanka.
• The first T20I match took place much later; in 2012, India played against Pakistan.

During its existence, the stadium has many times become a successful venue for cricket teams from many countries of the world; for example, the national teams of South Africa, Australia and Pakistan have achieved significant victories here. The venue was seriously renovated in 1996 to host the quarterfinals of the World Cup, and in the same year, it got a modern lighting system.

Since 2000, the stadium has been the center of the National Cricket Academy. Since then, the Academy has gifted many talented graduates to Indian cricket.

The venue is currently hosting Test Cricket, ODI and T20I matches, as well as IPL matches.

Significant events in the history of the stadium

During its existence, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium has hosted a large number of important games, including the quarterfinals of the 1996 World Cup. In addition, the site has become significant for many world-class cricketers because it was here that the games that were significant for their careers took place:

• The stadium was the venue for the last Test cricket game of the great Sunil Gavaskar, when the Indian national team defeated the Pakistan national team in March 1987.
• As we wrote above, the first Test Cricket match was held at the stadium in the 1974-75 season. Once again, India and Pakistan played each other at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium after the stadium was renovated and got modern floodlight lighting as part of the quarterfinals of the 1996 World Cup. India emerged victorious from that confrontation.
• In 2007, India and Pakistan played Test Cricket for the third time, again at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. During this match, Sourav Ganguly reached his highest score – 239 runs.
• At this stadium, Michael Clarke made his Test Cricket debut against India in 2004, and it was actually an impressive debut: Michael earned 151 points and helped the Australian team win. In addition, in Bangalore, he set a personal ODI batting record in a match against India – 130. This significant event took place just three years later, in 2007.
• At M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Pakistani cricketer Syed Inzamam-ul-Haq became the fifth batsman in cricket history to score a century (184 runs) in his 100th Test. It happened in the 2005 match against India.
• Anil Kumble crossed the 400-wicket mark at this ground in 2004, joining the league of great bowlers. This event was one of the brightest in the first decade of the XXI century.
• Glenn Maxwell (113) earned the highest number of individual innings at  Chinnaswamy Stadium, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal (6/25) leads in the bets bowling ranking.

There were also significant events in the history of this stadium that were not related to sports: for example, it became the venue for the “Miss World 1996” contest. Some time ago, the Karnataka State Cricket Association seriously considered the possibility of rebuilding the stadium so that the stands could accommodate up to 70,000 spectators, but this remains only a distant prospect.

One of the most unusual design features of the stadium is that it uses solar panels to power the floodlights.