TNPL. (Photo Source: Twitter)
Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) will be back with its seventh edition on Monday, June 12 and this time, Chepauk Super Gillies (CSG) and Lyca Kovai Kings (LKK) will defend the title as both were crowned joint champions in the previous edition of the league, following the washout of the final game in Coimbatore.
After seven years of its formation, TNPL is now enjoying success as it has earned a lot of supporters. Back in 2016, when the league was launched, eight business houses had spent a decent amount to get the rights to the eight franchises. In these seven years, the league saw many ups and downs but currently, it’s stable and delivering some amazing T20 action to its fans, every year. Team owners have played a huge role in the league’s success as they have ensured the smooth functioning of the tournament.
Here is the complete list of TNPL team owners of all 8 franchises:
1. Salem Spartans SS – Vivo Chennai South Distributor Selvakumar M
Salem Spartans (Photo Source : Twitter)
Salem Spartans (SS) kicked off their journey in TNPL as Tuti Patriots but with the change of ownership in 2019, the team was renamed Salem Spartans. M. Selvakumar of Vivo Chennai South Distributor spent INR 5.21 crore and acquired the rights of the franchise from Thoothukodi Sports and Entertainment LTD.
Spartans represent the Salem district of Tamil Nadu and in 2022, they played under the captaincy of Murugan Ashwin. In the 2021 edition of the league, they ended their journey in the seventh position. While in 2022, they ended up as the worst-performing side in the competition, concluding their campaign in the eighth spot.
In 2016, Spartans won the inaugural season of the league as Tuti Patriots under the captaincy of the veteran Dinesh Karthik. After getting a new identity, the Spartans’ performance has plummeted but in the upcoming 2023 season, they will look to improve their performance and lift the trophy after seven years.
2. Chepauk Super Gillies CSG – Metronation Chennai Television Private Limited
Chepauk Super Gillies (Photo Source : Twitter)
Chepauk Super Gillies (CSG) are the most successful franchise in the TNPL as they have won four titles so far, which is the most by any team in the league. The owner of the team is B. Sivanthi Adityan, who owns Metronation Chennai Television Private Limited. The organisation purchased the franchise for INR 5.21 crore in 2016.
Their maiden title came in 2017 under the captaincy of Rajagopal Sathish. In 2019, Kaushik Gandhi led CSG to their second title win with his leadership skills. The team retained the trophy in 2021 and in their success, Narayan Jagadeesan played a huge role with his bat, amassing 336 runs with three half-centuries in nine innings of 10 matches. Along with Jagadeesan, skipper Gandhi also played his part finely with his decent batting performance.
In 2022, Gandhi led the team from the front and made it joint champions alongside Lyca Kovai Kings (LKK). In CSG’s superb campaign, Gandhi looked confident with his bat and became the leading run-scorer for his team, with 226 runs in nine innings of nine matches at a strike rate of 110.24.
3. Lyca Kovai Kings LKK – Lyca Productions
Lyca Kovai Kings (Photo Source : Twitter)
In 2016, one of India’s most famous film production houses, Lyca Productions, whose chairman is Subaskaran Allirajah, bought a franchise in the TNPL for INR 5.01 crore and named it Lyca Kovai Kings (LKK). Allirajah also owns the Jaffna Kings franchise in the Sri Lankan Premier League (SLPL).
LKK represents Coimbatore in the league and currently, its captain is Tamil Nadu cricket’s new superstar, Shahrukh Khan, who represents Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Under Shahrukh’s captaincy, LKK became the joint champions with Chepauk Super Gillies (CSG) in 2022. In LKK’s successful journey, Suresh Kumar and Abhishek Tanwar performed excellently in the batting and bowling departments respectively.
Suresh powered the team with 398 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 157.93. While Tanwar took 17 wickets in nine matches at an economy of 7.09 and became the leading wicket-taker in the competition.
4. Dindigul Dragons DD – Take Solutions Ltd
Dindigul Dragons (Photo Source : Twitter)
Dindigul Dragons (DD) are part of TNPL since its beginning but till now, they haven’t won any title. In 2016, Take Solutions, a leading business-technology organisation, acquired the rights of the franchise for INR 3.42 crores. The team represents Dindigul situated in the southern part of Tamil Nadu and they are yet to win their maiden title.
In 2018, Narayan Jagadeesan, who was captaining Dragons, played ferocious cricket and took his team to the final. The right-handed batter scored 396 runs in nine innings of nine matches at a strike rate of 130.69 and finished as the second-leading run-getter of the season.
However, in the summit clash, they lost to Siechem Madurai Panthers and ended up their journey as runners-up. In 2019, they again came close to winning the title but this time, they lost the final to Chepauk Super Gillies (CSG). Although Dragons couldn’t clinch the title in the 2019 season, their captain Jagadeesan became the most successful batter in the tournament with 448 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 137.42.
5. Ba11sy Trichy – Ruby Builders
Ba11sy Trichy (Photo Source : Twitter)
Ba11sy Trichy started their journey in TNPL as Ruby Kanchi Warriors. The franchise was owned by Ruby Builders, who are a famous property developer in the southern region of Chennai. However, in the first-ever TNPL auction, the franchise went through an ownership change as Drumstick Productions became the new owner of the Tiruchirapalli-based team, splurging INR 3.69 crore.
In the majority of the seasons, Trichy delivered underwhelming performances to their fans. However, back in 2021, they reached the final under the captaincy of Rahil Shah but got an eight-run defeat at the hands of Chepauk Super Gillies (CSG) at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Nidhish S Rajagopal, Adithya Ganesh, and P Saravana Kumar emerged as exceptional performers in the tournament for Warriors. Kumar became the highest wicket-taker in the competition, bagging 13 wickets in nine matches at a fine economy of 7.84, with the best figures of 3/24.
6. IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans ITT – iDream Cinemas and IDream Properties
IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans (Photo Source : Twitter)
IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans came into existence in the inaugural edition of TNPL. IDream Cinemas, who own a movie theatre in Royapuram, Chennai, purchased the franchise for INR 3.3 crore. In the six seasons so far, Tamizhans have failed to be impactful as they haven’t played quality cricket most of the time.
In 2017, they delivered their best performance in the league under the captaincy of Subramaniam Badrinath. With his leadership, the veteran made the Tamizhans (then Karaikudi Kaalai) the third most successful team in the tournament. Playing in the round-robin stage of the competition, they performed well and ended up in third spot with four wins and three losses.
After 2017, they made it to the playoffs again in the next season. This time, Srikkanth Aniruddha led Karaikudi from the front and became the third-leading run-scorer in the season, with 347 runs in eight matches at a strike rate of 154.22. However, despite his batting efforts, the team couldn’t become champions and ended up their journey in the competition in the Eliminator game of the playoffs, losing to Lyca Kovai Kings (LKK).
7. Siechem Madurai Panthers SMP – Pooja Damodaran
Siechem Madurai Panthers (Photo Source : Twitter)
Siechem Madurai Panthers were bought by Kothari (Madras) LTD in 2016 for INR 4.001 crores. In the initial two seasons, they became the worst-performing team but in 2018, they uplifted their performance and became the champions of the third edition of the league, beating Dindigul Dragons at Chepauk Stadium.
In the same year, ahead of the tournament, Siechem Industries bought the ownership of the Madurai-based franchise from Kothari (Madras) LTD. P Damodaran, the managing director of Siechem Wires & Cables, appointed his daughter Pooja Damodaran as the CEO of the team to manage the day-to-day team affairs and take essential decisions.
After becoming champions in 2018, Panthers made it to the playoffs in the next season but didn’t get success in lifting the trophy for the second time. However, their batter Arun Karthik tried his best in the season and finished as the third-leading run-getter with 356 runs in nine games at a strike rate of 148.95.
8. Nellai Royal Kings NRK – Crown Forts Limited
Nellai Royal Kings. (Photo Source : Twitter)
In 2021, Crown Forts Limited changed the name of their VB Kanchi Veerans of Kancheepuram to Nellai Royal Kings to represent Tirunelveli. So far, in a couple of seasons as the Nellai-based outlet, they haven’t delivered anything special to their supporters but in the upcoming season, their fans are expecting them to be in their top form.
Following their dismal performance in 2021, NRK appointed Baba Indrajith as their captain in 2022, and under him, their performance graph went up as the Tamil Nadu veteran utilised his experience and helped his side to qualify for the playoffs. In the tournament, they ended their campaign in Qualifier 2, losing to Kovai Kings by two wickets in an intriguing game.
Although NRK failed to achieve their mission of winning the trophy, their key batters Sanjay Yadav and Baba Aparajith broke into the list of leading run-getters in the tournament. Yadav, who scored 452 runs in nine matches at a strike rate of 186.77, ended up as the leading run-scorer of the tournament. While Aparajith displayed his efficiency with his bat and became the third-leading run-getter in the competition, scoring 396 runs in nine matches at a strike rate of 144.52.