M. Chinnaswamy Stadium

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Lore & Background

The stadium was first used for First-class cricket matches during the 1972–73 season and earned test status during the 1974–75 season when the West Indies toured India. The first Test played at this stadium was on 22–27 November 1974, which was the debut Test match for West Indian batsmen Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge. Floodlights were first installed for the 1996 Wills World Cup, and the first match played under lights was the quarter-final clash between India and Pakistan on 9 March 1996. Since 2008, it has been the home ground of the IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore, and the first ever game of the IPL was held at the venue. The stadium was painted in red and yellow, the team colours of the Royal Challengers and also the colours of the Karnataka flag.

In Their Own Story

As per former Royal Challengers Bangalore's bowler Harshal Patel, "It is hard to bowl at the Chinnaswamy. It is a small ground and the ball generally flies." This is evident from the fact that in the 2023 Indian Premier League edition, teams scored 210 plus runs on four occasions and 170+ on three occasions in 8 innings played here. The highest IPL total at the venue is 287, scored by Sunrisers Hyderabad against RCB in 2024. The highest individual score in IPL at this ground is 175 (66 balls) by Chris Gayle for RCB against Pune Warriors in 2013. The best bowling figures in IPL at this venue are 4/9 by Samuel Badree for RCB against Mumbai Indians in 2017.

Reader's Guide

The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium is the home ground of the IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore since 2008. The first ever game of the IPL was held at this venue. The stadium has 40,000 seats and is known for its small ground and short boundaries, which often lead to high-scoring matches. It is the first cricket stadium in the world to use solar panels to generate a bulk of the electricity needed to run the stadium, procured through the "Go Green" initiative of the KSCA. In 2016 a water purification plant was added, and by January 2017 a sophisticated system of aeration and drainage was in place to avoid matches being curtailed due to a wet outfield. The stadium also hosted the 1996 Miss World pageant, the first time this event was organised in India.

Did You Know?

• It is the first cricket stadium in the world to use solar panels to generate a bulk of its electricity.
• The stadium hosted the 1996 Miss World pageant, the first time the event was held in India.
• The first Test match here was the debut Test for Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge in November 1974.
• The only T20I match in which a double super over was played took place here between India and Afghanistan on 17 January 2024.
• Afghanistan played their first ever Test match at this venue against India on 14 June 2018.