"The wicket will be in the best Chepauk traditions" said Ashok Kumbhat, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association in a chat with CricInfo on Friday. And a close look at it on Saturday only confirmed this view. The Chepauk tradition is a sporting wicket, that gives batsmen and bowlers equal chances and is result oriented. No other venue in India has seen more results than Madras (or Chennai), be it the Nehru stadium or Chepauk. Out of 33 Tests played at this venue, which reportedly has the most knowledgeable and disciplined spectators in the country, 21 have ended decisively. Eleven have been drawn while of course one has ended in a tie.

Even these telling statistics do not tell the full story. At least half the drawn games were affected by rain. And one of these eleven games - the Test against New Zealand in 1965 - was a four day match. Coming to the results, ten of the 21 have ended in four days.

In fact but for the rain which ruled out play on the last two days of the game against Pakistan in 1952, Madras would probably have had a result in every one of its first eight Tests. Then in the period 1969-1979, Madras produced six straight results. Even visiting teams have acknowledged the fact that Madras always represented their best chance of winning a match in India.

To make the picture complete, the pitches at either of the two venues in the city have given both batsmen and bowlers equal chances to display their skills. On the batting front, there have been feats like Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad sharing a 413-run stand for the first wicket against New Zealand in 1956, a record that still stands, Gavaskar batting 593 minutes to score 166 against Pakistan in 1980, Gundappa Viswanath and Yashpal Sharma batting the full day against England in 1982, Duleep Mendis getting a hundred in each innings for Sri Lanka in 1982, Sunil Gavaskar's unbeaten 236 against West Indies in 1983, till the other day the highest individual score by an Indian in a Test, England's Mike Gatting and Graeme Fowler both notching up double hundreds in 1985, Dean Jones batting 503 minutes to score a heroic 210 in the Tied Test, not to forget the fact that Sachin Tendulkar has got hundreds in all the last three completed Test matches he has played at the venue.

On the other side of the coin, Madras has given encouragement to bowlers also - and has not shown any preference either. Left arm spinner Vinoo Mankad took 12 for 108 against England in 1952, off spinner Erapalli Prasanna finished with ten for 174 against Australia in 1969, paceman Andy Roberts took 12 for 121 in 1975, medium pacer Kapil Dev had match figures of 11 for 146 against Pakistan in 1980, fast medium Neil Foster had a match analysis of 11 for 163 in 1985, leg spinner Narendra Hirwani came up with his world record of 16 for 136 against West Indies in 1988 and off spinner Saqlain Mushtaq had a ten wicket haul in the last Test played two years ago.

Exhilarating contests, decisive results, cricket of a high order and memorable batting and bowling feats. This, in a nutshell, has been the story of Test cricket at this southern metropolis.

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