Chennai's advantage over Nagpur is that "close to the stadium" and "a good place to actually stay" aren't in tension the way they are at Jamtha. Mylapore, Alwarpet, and Triplicane are all genuine neighbourhoods with their own food scenes and temples, and all sit within a short, easy ride of Chepauk.
The Savera, in Mylapore, is the pick if you want to be inside one of Chennai's most characterful old neighbourhoods, walking distance from the Kapaleeshwarar Temple and Mylapore's dense cluster of filter-coffee institutions, while still being a short, direct ride from the ground. It's a long-established, large hotel with a genuinely strong, well-attested rating from a large review base. See live rating and reviews on Google Maps
The Raintree, on St Mary's Road in Alwarpet, sits a little further from the temple district but closer to Chennai's contemporary restaurant scene, and it draws a strong rating in its own right. Alwarpet and Mylapore are effectively neighbouring areas, so the practical difference for a stadium trip is small; the real difference is which version of Chennai you'd rather come back to each evening. See live rating and reviews on Google Maps
If you'd rather base yourself somewhere with more shopping and a wider spread of restaurants within walking distance, Grand Chennai by GRT in T. Nagar is further from the ground than the other two but sits in Chennai's busiest commercial district, with the city's biggest concentration of shops and eateries on your doorstep. It carries the strongest review base of the three options here. See live rating and reviews on Google Maps
Why it's special
Unlike Nagpur, where the honest advice is to accept a commute either way, Chennai genuinely rewards picking a neighbourhood you'd want to spend evenings in, because several of them are both close to Chepauk and worth exploring in their own right. Mylapore in particular gives you a working, centuries-old temple neighbourhood alongside your Test match, not just a hotel bed near a ground. That's a real point of difference in this pack, not every host city in this series offers a stay that doubles as its own cultural experience.
