Tamil Nadu Premier League

Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL)

Official TNPL logo
Countries	India
Administrator	TNCA
Format	Twenty20
First edition	2016
Latest edition	2022
Next edition	2023
Tournament format	Round Robin format with Group System and Playoffs
Number of teams	8
Current champion	Lyca Kovai Kings (2023)
Most successful	Chepauk Super Gillies (4 titles)
Most runs	Narayan Jagadeesan (1240) [1]
Most wickets	R Sai Kishore (85) [2]
TV	Star Sports (TV) Fancode (Internet)
Website	tnpl.cricket

The Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) is a men's Twenty20 (T20) cricket league that is annually held in the state of Tamil Nadu in India and contested by eight city-based franchise teams. The league was formed in 2016 by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA). ^{[3] [4]} It is usually played during post summer season from June to August of every year. Shriram Group is the current title sponsor of the tournament. ^[5]

As of 2023, there have been seven seasons of the tournament. The present title holder is Lyca Kovai Kings.Chepauk Super Gillies are the most successful team after winning the title four times.

History

Background

In 2016, the TNPL was launched at the time when Chennai Super Kings, the Tamil Nadu franchise playing Indian Premier League (IPL), was facing a two-year suspension from the league. ^{[6] [7]} The league was aimed to make up for the absence of high-profile matches in Chennai in the year and to expose talented players from districts. ^{[8] [9]} It was conceived by former BCCI president and then TNCA president N. Srinivasan. ^{[6] [9] [10]}

Franchise rights

On 1 May 2016, TNCA invited bidders for the eight franchise rights. ^{[11] [12]} A total of 17 bidders participated in the bidding process and current members of TNCA were not allowed to participate. ^[6] The base price set for each franchise was ₹1.25 crore (US$160,000) for a period of 10 years. The franchise rights was sold for ₹33.51 crore (US$4.2 million) and the highest bidder chose Salem for ₹5.21 crore (US$650,000). ^{[13] [6]}

Winning bidders

Owner	Franchise	Price
Vivo South Chennai distributor Selvakumar	Salem Spartans	₹5.21 crore (US$650,000)
Metronation Chennai	Chepauk Super Gillies	₹5.13 crore (US$640,000)
Lyca Productions	Lyca Kovai Kings	₹5.01 crore (US$630,000)
Kothari (Madras) Ltd.	Madurai Panthers	₹4.001 crore (US$500,000)
(Need to be Updated)	Trichy Grand Cholas	₹3.69 crore (US$460,000)
Crown Forts Ltd.	Nellai Royal Kings	₹3.48 crore (US$440,000)
Take Solutions Ltd	Dindigul Dragons	₹3.42 crore (US$430,000)
I Dream cinemas	iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans	₹3.3 crore (US$410,000)

Salem Spartans

Chepauk Super Gillies

Lyca Kovai Kings

Madurai Panthers

Ba11sy Trichy

Nellai Royal Kings

Dindigul Dragons

iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans

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Location of TNPL teams

Foundation

On 16 August 2016, the first edition was inaugurated by MS Dhoni in Chennai. ^{[9] [14]} The first edition featured international cricketers including Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik and Lakshmipathy Balaji. Former cricketers Robin Singh and Michael Bevan were among the coaches. Matthew Hayden was the brand ambassador of the league. No players representing other state associations participated in the inaugural season as they were not given permission at the time by the BCCI. ^{[9] [15] [16]} Star Sports were the TV broadcasters. ^[9] The first season was played from 24 August to 18 September. ^[17]

Organisation

Tournament format

The eight teams play against each other in the league phase in round-robin format. Teams will get two points for each win. At the end of the league stage, top four teams in the points table will qualify for the playoffs. Much like the IPL, the playoffs consist of three matches before the final: one eliminator and two qualifiers. The top two teams from the league phase will play against each other in the Qualifier 1, with the winner going straight to the final and the loser getting another chance to qualify for the final by playing the Qualifier 2. Meanwhile, the third and fourth place teams from league phase play against each other in an eliminator match and the winner from that match will advance to play the Qualifier 2. The winner of this match will head to final to meet the winner of Qualifier 1, where the winner will be crowned champions.

Player acquisition and salaries

Abhinav Mukund was one of the two players in the draft's Category A in 2020

Teams can acquire a maximum and minimum players of 22 and 16 respectively. ^[18] They are allowed to retain three players each from last season. ^[19] Player draft takes place before every season and the players are placed in four categories on the basis of their experience. ^{[18] [20]}

Player categories in the draft

Category	Description	Salary
A	Players with international cricket experience	₹6 lakh
B1-B2	First class cricketers who have played at least 20 TNPL matches	₹2−3 lakh
C	Others	₹50,000−1 lakh

The salary cap for the most experienced players (Category A) was ₹5 lakh (US$6,300) in 2016. ^[13] In 2020, it was ₹6 lakh (US$7,500). ^[20]

Until 2020, BCCI prevented TNCA from allowing outstation players to participate in the league. ^{[15] [16] [9]} A maximum of 2 outstation players can be in a team given that they are not currently in any IPL team. A separate draft for outstation players happened after 2020 IPL season for TNPL season 5. ^[21]

Sponsorship and revenues

The title sponsor from the inception was India Cements Limited whose term ended in 2019. In the first edition TNCA had earned a total of ₹33.51 crore in franchise rights. This was the highest among all the local T20 leagues in India. ^[6] The business model followed by TNPL is similar to the IPL's model. ^[22] For the first five years, central rights (broadcast fees and sponsorship fees) will be shared 80 per cent among the eight franchises with the rest going to the administrator TNCA. ^[13] This excludes the match staging costs. As much as 65 per cent will be divided equally between the franchises with the rest 15 per cent given to the franchises as per their standing in the league. ^[13] Gate collections are not shared with the franchises. ^[22] To attract sponsors, owners were advised to name their teams after districts in the state. ^[11]

In 2019, some of the franchises faced financial difficulties and asked TNCA to bring changes to the revenue sharing model of the league. ^[22]

Prize money

The prize money split between the teams are: ^{[6] [23]}

• Champions – ₹1 crore (US$130,000)
• Runner up – ₹60 lakh (US$75,000)
• Two semi-finalists – ₹40 lakh (US$50,000) each
• Remaining participants – ₹25 lakh (US$31,000)

Teams

Current Teams

There are eight franchises competing in league. ^[24] The franchises are named after a city it is representing in the state. ^{[11] [6]} Each team can have a maximum of 22 players that includes two outstation players. ^{[18] [21]}

Chepauk Super Gillies

Lyca Kovai Kings

Dindigul Dragons

Ba11sy Trichy

Tiruppur Tamizhans

Madurai Panthers

Salem Spartans

Nellai Royal Kings

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Team locations

Team	City	Captain	Coach	Owner
Salem Spartans	Salem	Kaushik Gandhi	Robin Bist	Vivo Chennai south distributor Selvakumar M
Chepauk Super Gillies	Chennai	-	Hemang Badani	Metronation Chennai Television Private Limited - Dailythanthi
Lyca Kovai Kings	Coimbatore	Shahrukh Khan	Sriram Somayajula	Lyca Productions
Dindigul Dragons	Dindigul	Hari Nishaanth	Subramaniam Badrinath	Take Solutions Ltd
Trichy Grand Cholas	Tiruchirapalli	-	-	-
Tiruppur Tamizhans	Tiruppur	Mohammed	R. Prasanna	iDream Cinemas and iDream Properties
Madurai Panthers	Madurai	Arun Karthik	Bharath Reddy	Pooja Damodaran
Nellai Royal Kings	Tirunelveli	Baba Aparajith	A. G. Guruswamy	Crown Forts Limited

Defunct teams

Team	City	Year	Replaced Team	Replaced City	Year	Replaced Team	Replaced City	Year	Replaced Team	Replaced City	Year
Ruby Kanchi Warriors	Kanchipuram	2016	Ruby Trichy Warriors	Tiruchirappalli	2017-22	Ba11sy Trichy	Tiruchirappalli	2023	Trichy Grand Cholas	Tiruchirappalli	2024
V. B. Thiruvallur Veerans	Tiruvallur	2016-17	V. B. Kanchi Veerans	Kanchipuram	2018-19	Nellai Royal Kings	Tirunelveli	2021-	–
Albert Tuti Patriots	Thoothukudi	2016–19	Salem Spartans	Salem	2021-	–
Idream Karaikudi Kaalai	Karaikudi	2016-19	Idream Tiruppur Tamizhans	Tiruppur	2021-
Madurai Super Giants	Madurai	2016-17	Siechem Madurai Panthers	Madurai	2018 -

Timeline of teams

Present teamsFormer teams

Venues

Three venues were used for the first few seasons until 2019. Dindigul and Tirunelveli hosted matches in the league stages and the playoffs in Chennai. ^[25]

NPR College Ground

Indian Cement Company Ground

M. A. Chidambaram Stadium

Salem Cricket Foundation Stadium

SNR College Cricket Ground

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Match venues

Salem and Coimbatore started hosting matches from the 2020 season. ^{[26] [27] [28]}

Panaroma of the M A Chidambaram stadium

Stadium	City	Capacity
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium	Chennai	38,000 [29]
Salem Cricket Foundation Stadium	Salem	5,000 (expandable to 25,000) [30]
SNR College Cricket Ground	Coimbatore	Limited (expandable) [31]
NPR College Ground	Dindigul	5,000 [32]
Indian Cement Company Ground	Tirunelveli	4,000 [33]

Tournament seasons and results

Finals

Season	Winner	Winning margin	Runner-up	Final venue	Player of the season
2016	Tuti Patriots 215/2 (20 overs)	Patriots won by 122 runs Scorecard	Chepauk Super Gillies 93 all out (18.5 overs)	M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai	Narayan Jagadeesan (CSG)
2017	Chepauk Super Gillies 145/4 (19 overs)	Won by 6 wickets Scorecard	Tuti Patriots 143/8 (20 overs)		Washington Sundar (TP)
2018	Madurai Panthers 119/3 (17.1 overs)	Won by 7 wickets Scorecard	Dindigul Dragons 117 all out (19.5 overs)		Arun Karthik (MP)
2019	Chepauk Super Gillies 126/8 (20 overs)	Won by 12 runs Scorecard	Dindigul Dragons 114/9 (20 overs)		Ganeshan Periyaswamy (CSG)
2021	Chepauk Super Gillies 183/6 (20 overs)	Won by 8 runs Scorecard	Trichy Warriors 175/7 (20 overs)		Narayan Jagadeesan (CSG)
2022	Chepauk Super Gillies and Kovai Kings Joint winners	No Result Scorecard		SNR College Cricket Ground, Coimbatore	Sandeep Warrier (CSG)
2023	Kovai Kings 205/5 (20 overs)	Won by 104 runs Scorecard	Nellai Royal Kings 101 all out (15 overs)	Indian Cement Company Ground	Guruswamy Ajitesh (NRK)

Teams' performances

Season	2016	2017	2018	2019	2021	2022 ^	2023
Chepauk Super Gillies	RU	C	8th	C	C	C	5th
Dindigul Dragons	SF	6th	RU	RU	PO	6th	PO
Karaikudi Kaalai † / Tiruppur Tamizhans	5th	PO	PO	8th	8th	5th	6th
Kovai Kings	SF	PO	PO	5th	PO	C	C
Madurai Panthers † / Madurai Super Giants	8th	8th	C	PO	6th	PO	PO
Thiruvallur Veerans † / Kanchi Veerans † / Nellai Royal Kings	6th	5th	7th	PO	5th	PO	RU
Kanchi Warriors † / Trichy Warriors † / Ba11sy Trichy † / Trichy Grand Cholas	7th	7th	6th	7th	RU	7th	8th
Tuti Patriots † / Salem Spartans	C	RU	5th	6th	7th	8th	7th

• Teams are listed alphabetically by year of entry into the league

^† Team now defunct ^{^} Final was a no-result and trophy shared

•  C: champions
•  RU: runner-up
•   SF or PO: team qualified for the semi-final or playoff stage of the competition

Records

Highest totals

Score	Team	Opponent	Season
236/2	Nellai Royal Kings	Trichy Warriors	2022
215/2	Tuti Patriots	Chepauk Super Gillies	2016
209/3	Nellai Royal Kings	Siechem Madurai Panthers	2022
206/4	V. B. Kanchi Veerans	Trichy Warriors	2016
205/5	Lyca Kovai Kings	Nellai Royal Kings	2023
203/6	Dindigul Dragons	Siechem Madurai Panthers	2018
203/8	Chepauk Super Gillies	Trichy Warriors	2022
202/5	Dindigul Dragons	Lyca Kovai Kings	2021
201/1	Lyca Kovai Kings	Dindigul Dragons	2021
199/7	Lyca Kovai Kings	Madurai Super Giants	2016
197/3		V. B. Kanchi Veerans	2017

Sources: ^{[34] [35] [36] [37]}

Highest individual scores

Batsman	Runs	Balls	Opponent	Season
Baba Aparajith (Kanchi Veerans)	118*	63	Karaikudi Kaalai	2016
Bharath Shankar (Trichy Warriors)	112*	68		2017
Kaushik Gandhi (Tuti Patriots)	111*	68	Kanchi Veerans	2018
Washington Sundar (Tuti Patriots)	107	61	Chepauk Super Gillies	2017
Arun Karthik (Madurai Panthers)	106	61	Kovai Kings	2019

Sources: ^{[38] [39] [40] [41]}

Title sponsorship

From 2016 to 2019, India Cements Limited (Sankar Cement) owned the title rights of the league. ^{[10] [42] [43]} A tender for new title rights sponsor was released in March 2020 by TNCA. ^{[44] [43]}

Sponsor	Period
India Cements Limited	2016–2017
(India Cements Limited) as Sankar Cements	2018–2019
Shriram Group	2021–2023

Broadcasting

In 2016, Star India acquired the media rights for ₹7.1 crore and became the broadcast partners of the league. ^{[6] [45] [46]} The deal is worth between ₹7.2 crore and 10 crore for the first year, and ₹8 crore and 12 crore in the second, based on calculations. ^[13] Disney Star broadcasts the matches on Star Sports 1 HD with English Commentary and in Star Sports 1 Tamil HD with Tamil Commentary. ^[23] Star also broadcast via their OTT platform, Disney+ Hotstar. ^[47]

Satellite Television Rights

Winning bidder	Terms of deal	Fee
Star Sports	2016–2023	₹7.1 crore (US$890,000)

Digital Rights

Winning bidder	Terms of deal	Fee
Disney Star	2016–2021	₹7.1 crore (US$890,000)
Voot (Internet)	2022
FanCode	2023

Criticisms and controversies

Financial difficulties

On 26 May 2019, several franchise owners under financial distress wrote to TNCA asking for changes made in the upcoming season. The leaked letter signed by teams Tuti Patriots, Lyca Kovai Kings, Siechem Madurai Panthers, Trichy Warriors and iDream Karaikudi Kaalai was confidential in nature. ^{[22] [48]} The franchise owners and TNCA were both upset about the leak of the letter which had caused negative image towards the league. ^[48]

The main concerns in the letter were regarding the lack of outstation players' participation, quality of umpiring, unavailability of Tamil Nadu players who represent India and matches being held in relatively smaller venues. ^{[22] [49]} The franchises were also concerned over the viewership for the league and the television rating points. The league was criticised for not sharing the gate collections with the franchises, following IPL model. ^[22] Unable to recover the expenses, franchises have reportedly suffered losses ranging from ₹15−25 crore. They suggested several changes for TNPL. They asked TNCA to allow outstation players and to ask Tamil Nadu players who represent India to take part in the league. They also demanded a better revenue sharing method to prevent losses of the franchises. ^{[49] [50] [22]}

On 4 June 2019 in a meeting with the owners, TNCA's reacted to the issue saying that it shares 80 per cent of the telecast and sponsorship fees with the franchises and the association gains only a net ₹5 crore from TNPL after meeting all expenses. ^[48] Some owners were unsatisfied with the response and demanded a forensic audit of TNPL's accounts. ^[48]

Match-fixing allegations

In 2019, Tuti Patriots and Madurai Panthers faced match fixing allegations. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had said that these franchises were suspended due to connection with bookies but TNCA said that they were not. ^{[51] [50] [52]} However, TNCA has asked franchise Tuti Patriots to remove two of their co-owners in link to the corruption. ^[53] In 2020, Tuti Patriots were renamed as Salem Spartans for the next season due to the change in ownership. ^[26]

See also

• List of regional T20 cricket leagues in India

References

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External links

Official website