Chepauk Tendulkar's happy hunting ground

Chepauk in Chennai has been Sachin Tendulkar's happy hunting ground, though he scored his highest Test score, 241 not out, at the Sydney Cricet Ground (SCG).

From nine Test matches at Chepauk's M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Tendular has hit five centuries in aggregating 876 runs to average 87.60 with 165 against England in 1993 as his best.

But Tendulkar had his share of disappointment, too, at Chepauk. In 1999, his valiant 136 went in vain as India chased 271 runs against Pakistan. Once he fell at the doorstep of victory, the remaining batsmen failed to get the remaining 17 runs needed to win and India lost the Test by 12 runs.

Saqlain Mushtaq dismissed Tendulkar at 254 and the last three wickets fell for four runs. It was also perhaps the first time his teammates saw him crying in the dressing room for not being able to finish the job.

Outside India, the Sydney Cricket Ground has been closer to his heart.

In 2003-04 series, Tendulkar got his highest Test score, 241 not out, in the first innings against Australia in the fourth and the final Test. In the second innings he made an unbeaten 60 and became the only cricketer to score 300 runs without being dismissed in a Test match in Australia.

The following is the list of grounds where Sachin has aggregated 600-plus runs:

Ground M I N.O. Runs H.S. Ave. 100 50 0

Chepauk,Chennai 9 14 4 876 165 87.60 5 1 2

Wankhede,Mumbai 8 14 - 734 148 52.42 1 6 -

Nagpur 6 9 2 679 201* 97.00 3 1 -

Sydney 4 7 4 664 241* 221.33 3 1 -

Delhi 8 15 1 643 122 45.92 2 3 1

Kolkata 9 16 2 637 176 45.50 1 5 1

Some interesting facts:

Most centuries at one venue: 5 at Chepauk

Most centuries at one overseas venues: 3 at Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo; 3 at SCG

Most runs at one venue: 876 (ave. 87.60) in 9 at Chepauk

Best average at one venue: 266.00 (266 runs in 2 matches), at Bangabandhu National

Stadium, Dhaka; 221.33 (664 in 4 matches) at Sydney, SCG

Last updated on Nov 14^th, 2009 at 16:27 pm IST--IANS