Exactly fifty years ago on this date 22 November, cricket lovers of Bangalore realised their dream of witnessing a Test match in their own city.  Bangalore hosted its first ever test match between India and West Indies at Bangalore. I consider myself as extremely lucky as I was part of this historic moment. I was picked up as a Scorer for the Hindi Commentary box and assisted All India Radio Commentary Team. The commentators were – late Sri Joga Rao, Manish Dev, It was Janatha Government Regime at Delhi and there were two Commentaries – English and Hindi.  For the English Booth, my good friend, class mate and mentor Sri Sundarraj Cavale was the scorer. The score is the proud possession and has been displayed at the entrance of the Club house at KSCA Stadium.

M Chinnaswamy Mudaliyar
Born	29 March 1900
Place of Birth	Mandya, Kingdom of Mysore
Died	8 November 1991 (aged 91)
Occupation	Lawyer
Title	President of BCCI
Term	1977-1980
Predecessor	Ramprakash Mehra
Successor	S. K. Wankhede

Mangalam Chinnaswamy (29 March 1900 – 8 November 1991) was an Indian cricket administrator and lawyer. He was born in Mandya.

He was the President of Board of Control for Cricket in India from 1977 to 1980 and Secretary from 1960 to 1965. He also served as the vice president and joint secretary for long terms. He represented India in the International Cricket Council in 1965, 1973 and 1977 – 1980. A lawyer by profession, he actively practiced from 1925 till 1975.

He was one of the founders of the erstwhile Mysore State Cricket Association, noe called the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). He served as the secretary from 1953 to 1978 and as the President from 1978 to 1990. He was the treasurer and second official to the Indian tour of Australia in 1967-68 and as the manager when Australia returned the visit two years later. MCC honoured him with a life membership in 1969.

He was the driving force behind the construction of the KSCA stadium in Bengaluru. He was helped by many eminent people, was responsible in prevailing upon the Karnataka government to allot the ground for cricket in the MG Road area in 1969. This was named M. Chinnaswamy Stadium much against his wishes. He died on 8 November 1991 after a prolonged illness.

Chinnaswamy Stadium hosted India’s 100^th home test against Pakistan in Nov 1979. Roger Binny, the Present President of the BCCI made his test debut in this test. He batted at number six and scored 46 in this test.

First the stadium was named as Mysore State Cricket  Association Stadium, then as Karnataka State Cricket Associaction Stadium, afterMysore State was renamed as Karnataka on Nov 01 1974

It was renamed as Chinnawamy Stadium in 1987 after  Late Sri  M  Chinnaswamy, the president of the then MSCA and KSCA. He was also the President of BCCI

Technically, the foundation stone of the Chinnaswamy stadium, previously called the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) stadium, was laid in 1969. But if you believe that a cricket stadium truly comes to life when it hosts its first Test match,  that honour was granted to our stadium only in 1974. Excitement reached fever pitch as the match dates approached, but the stadium was far from complete, its eastern stands no more than wooden planks held up by casuarina poles. In response to a High Court directive to ensure public safety, the KSCA bolstered the poles with thousands of cement bags, a precious, rationed commodity in those times, and the show went off without a hitch.

In that first match of their India tour, Clive Lloyd’s West Indians, including Alvin Kallicharan, debutants Gordon Greenidge and Vivian Richards, and Andy Roberts, thrashed MAK Pataudi’s boys, among them Sunil Gavaskar, Farokh Engineer, and Karnataka greats EAS Prasanna, B Chandrasekhar, Brijesh Patel and GR Viswanath, by a whopping 267 runs. That was probably when the curse was laid – since then, Chinnaswamy stadium has had the reputation of being a happy hunting ground for visiting teams.

Luckily for us, Pakistan has bucked that trend – of the three times they have faced off against India here, India has only lost once – at Sunny Gavaskar’s swansong Test in 1987, and that by a whisker. In a spruced-up, floodlit stadium, at the quarter finals of the 1996 ODI World Cup, India registered a resounding win.

The relatively small size of the ground has proved a headache for bowlers, a joy for hitters, and an absolute delight for the capacity crowd of 32,000. And yet, this was where local lad Anil Kumble, cheered on by his home crowd, bagged his 400th Test wicket, sneaking past Australian Simon Katich’s defenses in 2004. An admiring city commemorated the achievement by renaming the Oriental Circle, located just outside the stadium, Anil Kumble Circle.

Speaking of renaming, when did the KSCA stadium become the M Chinnaswamy stadium? And who was Chinnaswamy, anyway? A Mandya-born lawyer and passionate cricket fan, Mangalam Chinnaswamy, born 124 years ago this month, served the KSCA for close to four decades, first as secretary and then president, until his retirement in 1990. Alongside, from 1960 to 1980, he also held office at the BCCI, serving as its president from 1977 to 1980. It was he who convinced the Mysore government to allot a parcel of land by the historic Cubbon Park for the stadium, and lease it to the KSCA for one hundred years. This busy, busy man was also one of the founders of the city’s MES group of educational institutions.

In 1987, four years before he passed away and much against his wishes, the KSCA stadium was renamed the M Chinnaswamy stadium in honour of his services to the beautiful game.

M Chinnaswamy Stadium hosted its 25^th Test against New Zealand in October 2024. The following table lists the salient statistics of this stadium

M Chinnaswamy Stadium
City	Bengaluru
Country	India
Also or previously Known as : Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium
First Test Match	22/11/74
Last Test Match`	14/10/24
Matches Played	25
Matches Won by Home Side	09
Matches Won by Touring Side	07
Matches Won by Neutral Side	00
Matches Won Batting First	10
Matches Won Batting Second	06
Matches Won Winning Toss	09
Matches Won Losing Toss	06
Matches Drawn	09
Matches Tied	00
Highest Individual Innings	267	Younis Khan	24/03/05 v Ind
Best Bowling (Innings)	08/50	N M Lyon	04/03/17 v Ind
Best Bowling (Match)	11/224	Harbhajan Singh	06/10/04 v Aus
Highest Team Innings	626		08/12/07 v Pak
Lowest Team Innings	046 {Ind}		14/10/24 v NZl
Highest Run Chase Achieved	262/05		31/08/12 v NZl

TESTS AT BANGALORE IN A NUTSHELL
1	No of Tests played	25
2	Won by India	07
3	Won by Visiting teams	06
4	Drawn tests	09
5	Highest total by India	626	by	Ind	vs	Pak	Dec 2007
6	Highest total by Visiting team	570	by	Pak	Vs	Ind	Mar 2005
7	Lowest total in a completed innings by India	046	by	Ind	Vs	NZl	Oct 2024
8	Lowest total in a completed innings by visitors	103	by	Afg	Vs	Ind	Jun 2028
9	Highest individual score by Indian batsman	239	SC Ganguly	Ind	Vs	Pak	Dec 2007
10	Highest individual score by visiting batsman	267	Younis Khan	Pak	Vs	Ind	Mar 2005
11	No of centuries scored by Indian batsmen	17
12	No of centuries scored by Visiting batsmen	17
13	Best innings bowling effort by Indian bowler	7-027	Maninder Singh	Ind	Vs	Pak	Mar 1987
14	Best innings bowling effort by Visiting bowler	8-050	NM Lyon	Aus	Vs	Ind	Jan 1977
15	Best match bowling effort by Indian bowler	11-224	Harbhajan Singh	Ind	Vs	Aus	Oct 2004
16	Best match bowling effort by Visiting bowler	09-121	Iqbal Qasim	Pak	Vs	Ind	Mar 1987
17	No of Five wicket hauls by Indian bowlers	20
18	No of Five wicket hauls by Visiting bowlers	15
19	No of ten wicket hauls by Indian bowlers	02
20	No of ten wicket hauls by Visiting bowlers	00
21	Highest Partnership by Indian batsmen	300	Ganguly/Yuvraj Singh	Ind	Vs	Pak	Dec 2007
22	Highest Partnership by Visiting batsmen	324	Younis Khan/Inzamam	Pak	Vs	Ind	Mar 2005
23	No of Three figure Partnership by India	22
24	No of Three figure Partnership by Visitors	15