CHENNAI: Damkutla, Dumkutla” may not be as popular as “Whistle Podu” in other parts of India. Sung by Anirudh Ravichander, it is among the most popular jingles one can hear on FM stations in Tamil Nadu as it is the first giveaway to the fans that Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) is around the corner. After missing it in 2020 because of the pandemic and played behind closed doors in 2021, a franchise-model T20, similar to the Indian Premier League gets underway in Tirunelveli on Wednesday.
With focus on taking the game to the districts, the TNPL for the first time will make its imprint in two new cities. The eight-team tournament will employ a caravan model and will move from Tirunelveli to Dindigul, Coimbatore and Salem. Apart from Dinesh Karthik and R Ashwin, who are expected to feature in the second-half of the TNPL after their commitment to the Indian team, 11 of the 14 players who were part of the IPL will take part in this year’s edition. All-rounder Vijay Shankar, who underwent a shoulder surgery, will miss the campaign for Salem Spartans.
In many ways, this is a tournament that even those beyond Tamil Nadu look forward to, each year. Apart from unearthing talents like T Natarajan, Varun Chakravarthy, the tournament has also helped the likes of Shahrukh Khan, Washington Sundar, R Sai Kishore, N Jagadeesan, Sai Sudharsan develop into T20 players, who have all gone on to play in the IPL. Although there are similar T20 leagues in other states, none of them have managed to strike a chord with fans and deliver quality cricket.
Over the last few seasons, thanks to the quality of cricket in play, IPL franchises have made it a habit to send their scouts to the TNPL, who are later called for trials. While there is definitely a huge gap in the quality of gameplay, what these franchises do is use the IPL to identify the players who are not part of domestic tournaments. Although not all the players end up with an IPL contract, those who hold the bat or bowl are included in the data base of the IPL franchises.
Although Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s remain the breeding ground for domestic cricketers and for IPL to tap into the resources, the TNPL offers something none of them provide. Modelled similarly to IPL, each of the eight teams is professionally run with the players experiencing a culture that is entirely different from that with their district or state team. Moreover, the quality of cricket when compared to other domestic T20 leagues is much better, thanks largely to the presence of all the Tamil Nadu cricketers.
“Cricketers are exposed to the franchise culture, which they otherwise wouldn’t be. They get to have a firsthand experience of the stressful situations faced while qualifying for the knockouts. And more than anything, it is an easy way to get noticed. Earlier, you needed to do something extraordinary for a period of time for someone from north to know about you. Unless your name came in the newspaper, that didn’t happen. But with these matches being televised, everything has changed. You may not be in good form, but if you have a good game, you are bound to get noticed,” says Hemang Badani, former Indian cricketer, who coaches the Chepauk Super Gillies, the most successful team in TNPL.
As Badani says, with IPL franchises on the look-out for something new each season, they use TNPL to find players who may have slipped out of the conventional system. As far as the players go, they use TNPL to get on the radar. “If you ask me, it played a huge role in my development,” says left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore, who plays for Chepauk and was part of the Chennai Super Kings in the past, before playing for Gujarat Titans in the IPL this season. “You needed a tournament like this to develop T20 skills. Given TNPL’s track record, everyone who takes the field knows IPL scouts are watching.
And for most of us, it is the first instance of playing in front of a huge crowd. So, these things matter a huge deal. And no matter what, when you know that it is a televised match, it tends to be at the back of your mind and can lead you to something. When you get used to big crowds, televised cricket and playing under the lights, in case you get an IPL contract or picked for the national team, you are ready to deal with these outside factors,” Kishore says.
While fitness and workload management are heavily emphasised in first-class teams, it still remains a new concept for those who are not part of a state team. In fact, thanks to the trials conducted by the TNPL teams, many amateur cricketers get a look-in. Kishore, who has played all the seasons of TNPL and whose career graph is on the ascendancy — he was part of India’s limited-overs squad to Sri Lanka in 2021 — he still looks forward to the tournament. “This is the sort of tournament where you can try different things as a bowler. With the boundary sizes being small, it will be a huge challenge for any spinner. And if you bowl well here, it definitely boosts your confidence and that is what I look forward to do in this TNPL. Plus, there are certain angles and field placements that you can work on without compromising on the team’s performance.”
TNPL Season 6
From June 23-July 31
Venues
Shankar Nagar Ground, Tirunelveli
NPR College, Dindigul
SNR College, Coimbatore
Salem Cricket Foundation, Salem
Teams
Chepauk Super Gillies: Captain: Kaushik Gandhi, Head coach: Hemang Badani, Owned by: Metronation Chennai
Lyca Kovai Kings: Captain: Shahrukh Khan, Head coach: DJ Gokulakrishnan, Owned by: Lyca Mobiles
iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans: Captain: M Mohammed, Head coach: Yo Mahesh, Owned by: iDream Cinemas and iDream Properties
Dindigul Dragons:
Captain: Hari Nishaanth, Head coach: S Badrinath, Owned by:
Take Solutions
Siechem Madurai Panthers: Captain: KB Arun Karthik, Head coach: Sriram Krishnamurthy, Owned by: Siechem
Ruby Trichy Warriors: Captain: Rahil Shah, Head coach: G Jayakumar, Owned by: Ruby Builders
Nellai Royal Kings: Captain: Baba Aparajith, Head coach: Shanmugham, Owned by: Crown Forts Ltd
Salem Spartans: Captain: Daryl S Ferrario, Head coach: R Prasanna, Owned by: M Selva Kumar