The seventh season of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) got underway earlier this week in Coimbatore and has now moved to Dindigul for its second leg. This is the first time that DRS and the Impact Player rule have been introduced in the league. Here are some major highlights from the week gone by.
The Sai Sudharsan show
Sai Sudharsan's TNPL contract (INR 21.6 lakh) is worth more than his IPL deal (20 lakh), and he is the most expensive player in the TNPL. Sudharsan started the new season with scores of 86 and 90 for defending champions Lyca Kovai Kings.
After taking Matheesha Pathirana on in the IPL final, Sudharsan tore into G Periyaswamy, the Tiruppur slinger and T Natarajan's protege from Salem, hitting him for three sixes in the final over, including a helicopter six.
Then, in Kovai's next game against Nellai Royal Kings, Sudharsan scooped Sandeep Warrier for six, a shot he had honed under Matthew Wade at Gujarat Titans. Sudharsan threatened to slam a hundred in that game too before he was run out for 90 off 52 balls.
Ashwin, Washington return to action
After not playing the World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval, R Ashwin flew to Chennai and reached Coimbatore on the eve of Dindigul Dragons' opener to take charge of the team. Ashwin created a stir on return when he unsuccessfully reviewed a review.
After taking 2 for 26 against Ba11sy Trichy, Ashwin returned 1 for 21 in Dindigul's home game against Madurai Panthers on Sunday. His leadership has also been central to Dindigul topping the points table after the first week of the season.
As for Washington Sundar, he had a more low-key return from a hamstring injury that had sidelined him from a sizeable part of IPL 2023. Batting at No.4 for Madurai, he managed only scores of 19 off 17 balls and 12 off 13 balls. He was also rusty with the ball as Dindigul's B Indrajith, one of the best players of spin in the Tamil Nadu side, tonked him for 6,2,6,6,2,4 in the only over Washington bowled on Sunday.
Varun's reunion with Ashwin at Dindigul
The inaugural TNPL auction was a bit of a throwback to the IPL 2019 auction, when Ashwin, who was Kings XI Punjab's captain then, went all in for Varun Chakravarthy's mystery spin.
In previous seasons, Varun had largely relied on his wrong'uns and carrom balls to take wickets. But this season, he has been even more potent with his legbreak, which had also served him well during IPL 2023.
After claiming 3 for 21 in a Player-of-the-Match performance against Trichy, Varun took 2 for 23 against his former team Madurai. He was on the verge of a hat-trick in both games.
Emerging player: Nellai's G Ajitesh
In his first TNPL season, in 2022, Nellai's Ajitesh impressed as a finisher, smashing 129 runs in six innings at an average of 43 and strike rate of 243.39. Nineteen of the 53 balls he had faced were sent to, or over, the boundary. Ajitesh was immediately elevated to Tamil Nadu's Syed Mushtaq Ali side, and his name was even called out at the accelerated rounds of the most recent IPL auction, but he didn't find any takers.
Has 20-year-old Ajitesh changed the minds of IPL scouts with his match-winning 60-ball 112 against Kovai? He displayed his power once again, hitting eight sixes and seven fours, this time from No.3. After his team-mate N Rajagopal suffered an injury, Ajitesh was bumped up the order and he almost single-handedly helped Nellai hunt down 182 in a last-ball thriller.
Ajitesh hails from Bangalore and has experience of playing age-group cricket in Karnataka. But lack of enough opportunities there prompted him to move to Coimbatore, where he is being mentored by AG Guruswamy, who is also the personal coach of KKR's N Jagadeesan.
Hong Kong, Punjab, Lucknow: the different flavours of TNPL
Former Hong Kong wristspinner Jhatavedh Subramanyan, who had featured in the World Cricket League Division 2 in 2019, has now moved back to Chennai. He was snapped up by Kovai at the auction and they have paired him up with left-arm fingerspinner Manimaran Siddharth, who was with Chennai Super Kings as a net bowler in IPL 2023. On his TNPL debut, Jhatavedh took 1 for 14 in four overs against Tiruppur and backed it up with 1 for 34 against Nellai. Jhatavedh has also had an IPL stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad as a net bowler.
Punjab Kings' Shivam Singh who had registered for the TNPL auction as a local player after moving to Chennai, has also added a different flavour to the league. After Ashwin had won a bidding war to get Shivam for INR 15.95 lakh, he celebrated with the rest of the Dindigul management. In Dindugul's opening game, Shivam struck 46 off 30 balls, showing glimpses of the big-hitting that had got Ashwin interested in him.
Swapnil Singh, who had played two games for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2023, is now with Madurai Panthers in the TNPL. Swapnil has bowled four wicketless overs so far but is still a vital part of Madurai's spin attack that includes Washington, M Ashwin and mystery spinner B Surya.