The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) has launched the Tamil Nadu Premier League with the aim of providing opportunities for the game to grow in rural areas. Launched by TNCA President and former BCCI Chief N. Srinivasan in Chennai on Thursday, the announcement of TNPL comes at a time when Chennai Super Kings is serving a two-year suspension in the Indian Premier League.
“One season without CSK is over, just one year left. CSK will come in after a year without any intervention,” said TNCA President and former BCCI chief N. Srinivasan.
The eight franchises are Thoothukudi, South Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur, Dindigul and Karaikudi.
“This is a domestic tournament for players registered in Tamil Nadu. We will have dialogues with BCCI to allow players from other states to participate,” said N. Srinivasan.
While there were 22 prospective bidders for the eight franchise leagues, 17 had taken part in the bidding process. The minimum bid price was set at Rs. 1.25 crore per franchise, with TNCA receiving Rs. 33 crore in total.
Thoothukudi received the highest bid at Rs. 5.21 crore from Thoothukudi Sports and Entertainment Private Ltd., while Metronation Chennai Television picked up the South Chennai team for Rs. 5.13 crore. The Coimbatore team received a bid of Rs.5.01 crore from Lyca Productions.
The inaugural season will be launched in the 4th week of August and will see the eight teams pooled into two groups with a total of 27 matches played at Chennai, Natham and Tirunelveli. While the winners of the TNPL will return home with prize money of Rs. 1 crore, the runners-up will receive Rs. 60 lakhs. The losing semi-final teams will each receive prize money of Rs. 40 lakhs each while the remaining teams will receive Rs. 25 lakhs as participation fee.
Star India will be the official broadcast partner with commentary in English and Tamil.