CHENNAI, MAY 12
The Shriram Capital Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), the domestic T20 competition in India, inched closer to the Sixth Season with the successful conduct of the Players Draft here on Thursday evening.
Nellai Royal Kings had a big shopping list of 10 players followed by Salem Spartans and Ruby Trichy Warriors (7 each). iDreamTiruppurTamizhans (6), Dindigul Dragons, Siechem Madurai Panther and LycaKovai Kings (all 5 each) followed suit as all teams maximized their strength of 22 players. Defending champions Chepauk Super Gillies had a relaxed day at the Draft as they had two players to be included in their squad.
“Whoever we have picked is capable of being part of the playing XI. But we want to have our options ready, particularly taking travel and conditions into account, to keep our overall strength intact,” revealed Rajeel, manager of Nellai.
- A key feature of this season will be the addition of two new venues – Salem Cricket Foundation ground, Salem and SNR College ground, Coimbatore
- In all 32 matches, including the Playoff matches will be played at four venues during the 45-day long tournament with the final on July 31 (Sunday) at Coimbatore.
The experienced S Suresh Kumar was picked by Tiruppur while mystery spinner B Suriya, who bowled at the Royal Challengers Bangalore nets in the Indian Premier League this season, went to Kovai.
The TNPL gets under way from June 23 (Thursday) at the India Cements Ltd Sankar Nagar ground, Tirunelveli with Chepauk Super Gillies locking horns with Nellai Royal Kings in the opening game.
A key feature of this season will be the addition of two new venues – Salem Cricket Foundation ground, Salem and SNR College ground, Coimbatore in addition to the earlier ones in Tirunelveli and Dindigul (NPR College ground, Natham). It is keeping in line with the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association’s aim of taking the Twenty20 league to the districts of the state.
For the first time since the TNPL began six years ago, there will be no match in Chennai.
In all 32 matches, including the Playoff matches will be played at four venues during the 45-day long tournament with the final on July 31 (Sunday) at Coimbatore.
Salem Spartans’ head coach R Prasanna believes the addition of new venues is a big boost for the players and TNPL. “With two new venues added this year, it will be a good exposure to our players. And this will help TNPL and cricket as well, as more fans will get to experience the league and pick up this sport. This will in turn help Tami Nadu produce more players to the IPL,” he said.
“We are on schedule for the conduct of the TNPL this season and the conduct of the Players Draft is another step in that direction,” remarked TNCA secretary RS Ramasaamy.
All teams were quite content with their draft picks and were looking forward to the tournament proper.
REACTIONS FROM TEAM MANAGERS or COACHES
GANESHAN VAHEESAN, Director of Cricket and Mentor, Lyca Kovai Kings
“Very satisfied with the player draft today because we almost got the players we were looking for. I am very happy to join LycaKovai Kings. I was with LPL (Jaffna Kings in Lanka Premier League) for two years as the Manager and Director of Cricket, where we won the tournament both years. I would like to bring that experience here and continue the winning streak. We have a core team already but B Suriya (mystery spin) and Ishwar Suresh (wicketkeeper batsman) are two players we are looking at seriously.”
RAJEEL RAHMAN, Manager, Nellai Royal Kings
“We were primarily looking for a middle-order bat (Ajitesh, Krish Jain) and opening fast bowler (Sunil Sam, Easwaran) and we have those bases covered with the first pick. We were fortunate enough to get a few more additions of good quality picks and a spinner (KarthickManigandan) who is capable of playing in any condition. We are pretty happy with the draft; overall it looks like a fantastic team.”
R PRASANNA, Head Coach, Salem Spartans
“We had our core group intact already; we were in need of a wicket-keeper (Kavin, Ganesh) and batsmen (Jafar Jamal, Dinesh Vedaguru). We got what we wanted. Since it is a mini-draft, we don’t expect anyone to stand out but we are expecting a lot from Jafar Jamal, who is known for his big-hitting skills. Salem Spartans were formerly Tuti Patriots, and I was with Tuti Patriots a couple of years back. I have a brotherly equation with the owner of the team. He understands the game really well. The support staff have played enough cricket to understand the local conditions and players.”
SURESH, Chepauk Super Gillies management
“Our bench strength is equivalent to any good squad. That’s a reason why we have not released many players. We are quite happy with today’s picks. The reason is S.Karthik, who we picked has done well in Ranji Trophy. We’ve taken Madhan Kumar from the district and as a management we believe in promoting cricket throughout the state. He has a lot of potential and has been playing well in the 5th division. I’m pretty sure in another couple of years time, other teams will fight to get him into the squad.”
HR SRINIVASAN, Owner, Dindigul Dragons
“I think we’re a very balanced team. It’s got experience, it’s got youngsters and many of them have been with us for a while now, so we’re pleased with our team.”
SHYAM KANGAYAN, CEO, Ruby Trichy Warriors
“I think actually we filled in all the gaps, although we increased the bench strength. In fact, we had organized a couple of selection trials, where 300 boys turned up. We picked 7-odd players from this selection trial. That’s a good part of it. We found a few young talents. Hopefully, few of them get to play and satisfy our requirements.”
RISHIKESH SRIRAM MURTHY, Owner, iDreamTiruppur Tamizhans
“We had a very successful draft today, having picked 3 senior batters to strengthen our top order (Suresh Kumar, Anand Subramanian, AbhishekHegde) and a seasoned left arm spinner (DT Chandrasekar) as well. We have met all our requirements and filled the gaps from last season. I feel like we have a great squad to lift the trophy this year.”
MAHESH SUBRAMANIAN, CEO, Siechem Madurai Panthers
“We’ve almost retained the same team from last year, around 17 players. We’ve also taken 2-3 new youngsters, uncapped players to encourage younger talent. We already have a good combination in ArunKarthik, also some seasoned players like KousikJagatheesan,AnirudSitha Ram and NS Chaturved who is going to lead the team. We’ve got good fast bowlers also. Our combination is good. We are confident of finishing in the top 4. After that it’s going to be anybody’s game.”
THE SQUADS
Chepauk Super Gillies (22 players)
Retained players: Alexander R, Arun B, Arun Kumar V, Harish Kumar S, Jagadeesan N, JaganathSinivas R S, Kaushik Gandhi M, Nilesh Subramanian R, PrashidAkash H, Radhakrishnan S, Rahul D, Sai Kishore R, SaiPrakash V, SandeepWarrier, Sasidev U, Sathish R, Siddharth M, SonuYadav, Sujay S, Vijayakumar S
Drafted players: Karthik S, Madhankumar S
Head coach: HemangBadani
Lyca Kovai Kings (22)
Retained players: AbhishekTanwar, Ajith Ram S, Shriram C, Aravindh G, AshwinVenkataraman, Ganga Sridhar Raju V, Manish G R, Mukilesh U, Natarajan T, SaiSudharsan B, SelvaKumaran N, Sharukh Khan M, ShijitChandran P, Suresh Kumar J, Vignesh K
Drafted players: B Surya, Abhinav M, Raja M, Ram Arvindh R, Ishwar Suresh
Head coach: DJ Gokulakrishnan
iDreamTiruppurTamizhans (22)
Retained players: Aravind S, Aswin Crist A, Dinesh Karthik, Francis Rokins P, GowthamThamaraiKannan K, Karuppusamy A, Maan K Bafna, Manigandan S, Mohammed M, Mohan Prasath S, Natarajan S T, RajkumarR, Siddharth S, TusharRaheja,Sathiyannaarayan L, Aniruda S*
Drafted players: Suresh Kumar S, Anand Subramanian, Abhishek M Hegde, DT Chandrasekar, Sharun Kumar, Parthasarathy G
Head coach: Yo Mahesh
Dindigul Dragons (22)
Retained players: Advaith Sharma, Arun S, Ashwin R, Gurjapneet Singh, HariNishaanth C, Kishan Kumar S, Lokeshwar S, Mani Bharathy K, MokitHariharan R S, Silambarasan M, Srinivasan R, Suthesh R, Swaminathan S, Vignesh L, VimalKhumar R, Vishal Vaidhya K, Vivek R
Drafted players: Monish Satish, Andimani Ganga Pradeep, Manoj Kumar T, MukunthK, Karthik Saran
Head coach: S Badrinath
Siechem Madurai Panthers (22)
Retained players: Aaditya V, AnirudhSita Ram B, ArunKarthick K B, AushikSrinivas R, Chaturved N S, DeebanLingesh K, Gowtham V, JhathavedhSubramanyan, KiranAkash L, Kousik J, Mithun R, Rajkumar K, Rocky B, Saravanan P, Silambarasan R, VarunChakravarthy, Senthil Nathan S*
Drafted players: Sunny Sandhu, ThalaivanSargunam X, RithikEaswaran, Vignesh S Iyer,
Ayush M
Head coach: TBC
Ruby Trichy Warriors (22):
Retained players: Adithya Ganesh, AkashSumra, AmithSathvik V P, Antony Dhas W, Ganesh R, Hemanth Kumar G, Mathivanan M, Muhammed Adnan Khan, Nidhish S Rajagopal, Poiyamozhi M, Rahil S Shah, Santosh Shiv S, Saravana Kumar P, YazhArunMozhi M E, Murali Vijay
Drafted players: Ajay Krishna, AtheequrRahman, Sughendiran, Sanjay MS, Gokulmoorthy, BoopathiVaishna Kumar, Jasper Benjamin
Head coach: G Jayakumar
Nellai Royal Kings (22)
Retained players:Aparajith B, Athisayaraj Davidson V, Harish N S, Indrajith B, Jitendra Kumar CH, PradoshRanjan Paul, Sanjay Yadav,Sri Neranjan R, Surya Prakash L, Trilok Nag H, Veeramani T, Shajahan M*
Drafted players: Ajitesh G, Sunil Sam, Krish Jain, Easwaran NR, Rooban Raj, Karthick C Manikandan, Rohan M Raju, VikramJangid, AkashDev Kumar, Sathish Kumar
Head coach: Shanmugham
Salem Spartans (22)
Retained players: Abishiek S, Akshay V Srinivasan, Ashwin M, Boopalan S, Daryl S Ferrario, Ganesh Moorthi M, Gopinath K H, Karthikeyan R, Karthikeyan R, Kishoor G, Lokesh Raj T D, Periyasamy G, Praanesh B, Vijay Shankar, Washington Sundar M S
Drafted players: Jafar Jamal, Kavin R, Ganesh S ,Dinesh Vedaguru M, Jeet S Jain, Kamesh M, Rishi R
Head coach: Ramasamy Prasanna
*indicates traded players
