The iconic M.A. Chidambaram Stadium has seen quite a few iconic players make the hallowed turf their own. While in recent times, it is synonymous with M.S. Dhoni, a few decades back, it was Sachin Tendulkar. The Master Blaster has a stellar record and fondly spoke about the venue as one of his favourites in the world.
But a cricketer who was first known for his astonishing success at this venue was the stylish G.R. Viswanath. The Karnataka batter relished playing at Chepauk, scoring 785 runs from 10 matches, including a sensational 222 against England in 1982.
However, the most iconic of the knocks was his unbeaten 97 against West Indies in 1975, taking on a hostile Andy Roberts, who scalped seven wickets in that innings.
On Friday, the former India captain was in the city and decided to relive some fond memories as he took in the sights of the recently refurbished stadium alongside his son.
The TNCA, led by its President, Dr P. Ashok Sigamani, hosted Viswanath and his son and took the legendary cricketer on a guided tour of the recently-refurbished stadium.
G.R. Viswanath poses with TNCA president Dr P. Ashok Sigamani. | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam/The Hindu
As part of the stadium redevelopment, the TNCA decided to decorate the stadium with images from iconic matches played at the venue and painted murals of top cricketers on the walls.
And Viswanath looms large in Chepauk, with a mural of his hook shot against Roberts on the perimeter walls of the MAC B Ground.
The press conference room at the stadium also has the same shot inscribed on the wall alongside The Hindu’s match report of his knock.
“I have lots of memories here which I can never forget. Not because I got runs - of course I got runs, yes - but the love of the people. Even this morning, I got a fan mail saying that your 97 is beautiful. So I can’t forget Chepauk and the fans here.,” said Viswanath on returning to his stomping ground.
The mural dedicated to G R Viswanath at the Chepauk stadium | Photo Credit: B.Jothi Ramalingam/The Hindu
On the 97 not out, the 74-year-old recalled, “Andy Roberts was new to world cricket, and everyone knew what sort of bowler he was. He just played a couple of Test matches before and had played a lot of country cricket. He was already a big deal in world cricket as a fast bowler. And, especially this pitch, I wonder how it had a lot of bounce, which you never get in India. Andy had the power to bowl those kinds of deliveries, and I can’t say it was fun (laughs), but it is one of the best knocks I have ever played in my career.”
Pointing to The Hindu’s match report, which had mentioned two square drives as the best shots of the day, Viswanath said, “You guys always say I played the square cut. But see, they have correctly mentioned it as square drive,” and went on to shadow-play the shot with a ‘tuck’ sound.
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