The Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league played in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The league was established by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) in 2016. It is played every year during July and August. Four editions have been played so far. The tournament is played by eight teams representing the eight districts of Tamil Nadu. Shankar Cements is sponsoring this competition since its inception. MS Dhoni had inaugurated the first season of TNPL.
Motive Behind Tamil Nadu Premier League:
The biggest motive of starting this league was to provide a platform to the players of Tamil Nadu state to showcase their talent. In which they succeeded to a great extent. The first edition also featured popular players like Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik, and Lakshmipathy Balaji. Due to which the league proved successful from the very first season. The league is telecasted by Star Sports.
The first season was won by the Tuti Patriots. The winner of the second season was Chepauk Super Gillies, while the third season was won by Siechem Madurai Panthers. The current champion is Chepauk Super Gillies. They are the most successful team of TNPL by winning two seasons.
Click: Tamil Nadu Premier League 2021 Match Prediction
Franchise Rights Bid
On 1 May 2016, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association invited bidders for the eight-team franchise rights of the league. A total of 17 bidders participated in the auction to bid. TNCA members were not allowed to participate in this auction. The base price fixed for each franchise was ₹1.25 crore per annum for a period of 10 years. After the auction, the amount earned from franchise rights was ₹33.51 crore which was almost more than three times the minimum bid amount.
Owner | Team Name | Bid Price |
Vivo South Chennai distributor Selvakumar | Salem Spartans | 5.21 crore |
Metronation Chennai | Chepauk Super Gillies | 5.13 crore |
Lyca Productions | Lyca Kovai Kings | 5.01 crore |
Kothari (Madras) Ltd. | Madurai Panthers | 4.001 crore |
Ruby Builders | Trichy Warriors | 3.39 crore |
V.B. Chandrasekar | Thiruvallur Veerans | 3.48 crore |
Take Solutions Ltd | Dindigul Dragons | 3.42 crore |
Chettinad Apparels | Karaikudi Kaalai | 3.30 crore |
Tournament Format
Eight teams play against each other in a round-robin format in the league stage. Teams will get two points for each win. At the end of the league stage, the top four teams in the points table will qualify for the playoffs. The top two teams from the league stage will play against each other in Qualifier 1.
The winner of Qualifier 1 goes directly to the final and the loser gets another chance to qualify for the final by playing Qualifier 2. Meanwhile, the third and fourth-placed teams from the league stage play against each other in an eliminator match, and the winner from that match will advance to play Qualifier 2. The winner of this match will play against the winner of Qualifier 1 in the Final, where the winner will be the champion.
Prize money
The prize money split between the teams are:
Champions – ₹1 crore
Runner up – ₹60 lakh
Two semi-finalists – ₹40 lakh
Remaining participants – ₹25 lakh
TNPL Teams
Eight franchises compete in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. The franchise is named after the district it is representing in the state. Each team can have a maximum of 22 players and a minimum of 16 players. As of 2020, BCCI had barred TNCA from allowing outside players to participate in the league. But now relaxing the rules, a team can have a maximum of 2 outsiders provided they are not currently in any IPL team.
Team | City |
Salem Spartans | Salem |
Chepauk Super Gillies | Chennai |
Lyca Kovai Kings | Coimbatore |
Dindigul Dragons | Dindigul |
Trichy Warriors | Tiruchirapalli |
iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans | Tiruppur |
Siechem Madurai Panthers | Madurai |
Nellai Royal Kings | Tirunelveli |
Tournament Results
Season | Winner | Runner-up |
2016 | Tuti Patiots | Chepauk Super Gillies |
2017 | Chepauk Super Gillies | Tuti Patriots |
2018 | Siechem Madurai Panthers | Dindigul Dragons |
2019 | Chepauk Super Gillies | Dindigul Dragons |
Team’s Performance
Team | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
Chepauk Super Gillies | 2nd | 1st | 8th | 1st |
Lyca Kovai Kings | 4th | 4th | 3rd | 5th |
Dindigul Dragons | 3rd | 6th | 2nd | 2nd |
Trichy Warriors | 7th | 7th | 6th | 7th |
iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans | 5th | 3rd | 4th | 8th |
Siechem Madurai Panthers | 8th | 8th | 1st | 3rd |
Salem Spartans | 1st | 2nd | 5th | 6th |
Nellai Royal Kings | 6th | 5th | 7th | 4th |