Published: Sep 02, 2013, 12:01 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 02, 2013, 12:01 PM (IST)
Sachin Tendulkar could play is 200th Test match in front of the home crowd © Getty Images
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a two-Test home series against the West Indies in November, which means Sachin Tendulkar, who has represented India in 198 Test matches, will play his record 200th Test at home. But where? The itinerary of the series has not been announced. Sarang Bhalerao digs into the numbers and examines Tendulkar’s records at the home grounds.
So it is confirmed, it will not be Durban, Johannesburg or Cape Town. Sachin Tendulkar’s record 200th Test match will be played at home. This decision sounds a tad bizarre but it just highlights the impact of Tendulkar for whom this special treatment has been meted out. The people are ecstatic; every single cricket aficionado would want to be part of the special occasion.
Expect cheers, chants, original artwork, new slogans and reverberations of “Saaaachinnnn Saccchinnnn”. The occasion will be grand and the exuberance palpable.
But on which ground in India has Tendulkar been the king? It would be a fitting finale for Tendulkar to play his record-breaking match at the Wankhede Stadium but that’s not been a happy hunting ground for the master. Let us look at the little maestro’s record at his home:
| Venue | M | I | Runs | HS | Ave | 100s | 50s |
| MA Chidambaram, Chennai | 10 | 16 | 970 | 165 | 88.18 | 5 | 2 |
| M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore | 9 | 16 | 869 | 214 | 62.07 | 2 | 3 |
| Eden Gardens, Kolkata | 12 | 20 | 862 | 176 | 47.88 | 2 | 6 |
| Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai | 10 | 18 | 847 | 148 | 47.05 | 1 | 7 |
| PCA Stadium, Mohali | 11 | 18 | 767 | 126* | 47.93 | 1 | 5 |
| Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi | 10 | 19 | 759 | 122 | 42.16 | 2 | 4 |
| VCA Stadium, Nagpur | 6 | 9 | 679 | 201* | 97 | 3 | 1 |
| Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium, Motera | 9 | 16 | 642 | 217 | 42.8 | 3 | 0 |
| VCA Stadium, Jamtha | 4 | 6 | 291 | 109 | 48.5 | 2 | 1 |
| Green Park, Kanpur | 4 | 6 | 199 | 61 | 39.8 | 0 | 1 |
*Other venues like the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, KD Babu Singh, Lucknow, Sector 16 Stadium, Chandigarh, and the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, are not considered.
Tendulkar’s happy hunting ground has been MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, where he has scored 970 runs in 10 Test matches at an average of 88.18. He has also scored five centuries at this centre — the most he has scored at any venue in India.
There is no Test cricket played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur these days as there is a new stadium built in Jamtha. Tendulkar’s record at the old Nagpur stadium has been brilliant. He scored 679 runs in six matches at an average of 97 with three tons.
At his home ground, the Wankhede Stadium, Tendulkar has scored 847 runs in 10 Test matches at an average of 47.05 with only one century against Sri Lanka in 1997.
Tendulkar has an ordinary record at Green Park, Kanpur where the maestro has failed to score a century. He has scored only 199 runs in four Test matches at an average of below 40.
Tendulkar has played nine Test matches against the West Indies and scored 926 runs at an average of 61.73. The highest score against the men from the Caribbean has been 179 at Nagpur (at the now defunct VCA Stadium ground). His second best of 176 was at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Let us look at Tendulkar’s record against West Indies at home:
| Venue | M | I | Runs | HS | Ave | 100s | 50s |
| Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai | 3 | 5 | 251 | 94 | 50.2 | 0 | 2 |
| Eden Gardens, Kolkata | 2 | 3 | 250 | 176 | 83.33 | 1 | 0 |
| VCA Stadium, Nagpur | 1 | 2 | 233 | 179 | 116.5 | 1 | 0 |
| Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi | 1 | 2 | 83 | 76 | 41.5 | 0 | 1 |
| MA Chidambaram, Chennai | 1 | 2 | 59 | 43 | 59 | 0 | 0 |
| PCA Stadium, Mohali | 1 | 2 | 50 | 40 | 25 | 0 | 0 |
Tendulkar has got most number of runs against West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium, his home-ground. He played one Test match each at PCA Stadium, Mohali (1994), Chennai (2002) and Delhi (2011). At the Wankhede Stadium in 2011, Tendulkar missed his 100th international ton by a mere six runs when he was caught by Darren Sammy off Ravi Rampaul’s bowling.
According to the overall record at home, the MA Chidambaram looks to be ideally suited to Tendulkar since he has been invariably successful over there. Against the West Indies Eden Gardens has been Tendulkar’s happy hunting ground with an average of 83.33.
So what venue is it going to be? Be rest assured wherever Tendulkar plays – the roars and the cheers will accompany the great son of India. The suspense remains.
(Sarang Bhalerao hails from a family of doctors, but did his engineering. He then dumped a career in IT with Infosys to follow his heart and passion and became a writer with CricketCountry. A voracious reader, Sarang aspires to beat Google with his knowledge of the game! You can follow him on Twitter here)
