Tamil Nadu Premier League facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL)

Official TNPL logo
Countries	India
Administrator	TNCA
Format	Twenty20
First edition	2016
Latest edition	2023
Next edition	2024
Tournament format	Round Robin format with Group System and Playoffs
Number of teams	8
Current champion	Lyca Kovai Kings (2023)
Most successful	Chepauk Super Gillies (4 titles)
Most runs	Narayan Jagadeesan (1240)
Most wickets	R Sai Kishore (85)
TV	Star Sports (TV) Fancode (Internet)

The Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) is a men's Twenty20 (T20) cricket league that is annually held in the state of Tamil Nadu in India and contested by eight city-based franchise teams. The league was formed in 2016 by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA). It is usually played during post summer season from June to August of every year. Shriram Group is the current title sponsor of the tournament.

As of 2023, there have been seven seasons of the tournament. The present title holder is Lyca Kovai Kings. Chepauk Super Gillies are the most successful team after winning the title four times.

History

Background

In 2016, the TNPL was launched at the time when Chennai Super Kings, the Tamil Nadu franchise playing Indian Premier League (IPL), was facing a two-year suspension from the league. The league was aimed to make up for the absence of high-profile matches in Chennai in the year and to expose talented players from districts. It was conceived by former BCCI president and then TNCA president N. Srinivasan.

Franchise rights

On 1 May 2016, TNCA invited bidders for the eight franchise rights. A total of 17 bidders participated in the bidding process and current members of TNCA were not allowed to participate. The base price set for each franchise was ₹1.25 crore (US$210,000) for a period of 10 years. The franchise rights was sold for ₹33.51 crore (US$5.7 million) and the highest bidder chose Salem for ₹5.21 crore (US$890,000).

Foundation

On 16 August 2016, the first edition was inaugurated by MS Dhoni in Chennai. The first edition featured international cricketers including Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik and Lakshmipathy Balaji. Former cricketers Robin Singh and Michael Bevan were among the coaches. Matthew Hayden was the brand ambassador of the league. No players representing other state associations participated in the inaugural season as they were not given permission at the time by the BCCI. Star Sports were the TV broadcasters. The first season was played from 24 August to 18 September.

Organisation

Tournament format

The eight teams play against each other in the league phase in round-robin format. Teams will get two points for each win. At the end of the league stage, top four teams in the points table will qualify for the playoffs. Much like the IPL, the playoffs consist of three matches before the final: one eliminator and two qualifiers. The top two teams from the league phase will play against each other in the Qualifier 1, with the winner going straight to the final and the loser getting another chance to qualify for the final by playing the Qualifier 2. Meanwhile, the third and fourth place teams from league phase play against each other in an eliminator match and the winner from that match will advance to play the Qualifier 2. The winner of this match will head to final to meet the winner of Qualifier 1, where the winner will be crowned champions.

Player acquisition and salaries

Abhinav Mukund was one of the two players in the draft's Category A in 2020

Teams can acquire a maximum and minimum players of 22 and 16 respectively. They are allowed to retain three players each from last season. Player draft takes place before every season and the players are placed in four categories on the basis of their experience.

The salary cap for the most experienced players (Category A) was ₹5 lakh (US$8,500) in 2016. In 2020, it was ₹6 lakh (US$10,000).

Until 2020, BCCI prevented TNCA from allowing outstation players to participate in the league. A maximum of 2 outstation players can be in a team given that they are not currently in any IPL team. A separate draft for outstation players happened after 2020 IPL season for TNPL season 5.

Sponsorship and revenues

The title sponsor from the inception was India Cements Limited whose term ended in 2019. In the first edition TNCA had earned a total of ₹33.51 crore in franchise rights. This was the highest among all the local T20 leagues in India. The business model followed by TNPL is similar to the IPL's model. For the first five years, central rights (broadcast fees and sponsorship fees) will be shared 80 per cent among the eight franchises with the rest going to the administrator TNCA. This excludes the match staging costs. As much as 65 per cent will be divided equally between the franchises with the rest 15 per cent given to the franchises as per their standing in the league. Gate collections are not shared with the franchises. To attract sponsors, owners were advised to name their teams after districts in the state.

In 2019, some of the franchises faced financial difficulties and asked TNCA to bring changes to the revenue sharing model of the league.

Prize money

The prize money split between the teams are:

• Champions – ₹1 crore (US$170,000)
• Runner up – ₹60 lakh (US$100,000)
• Two semi-finalists – ₹40 lakh (US$68,000) each
• Remaining participants – ₹25 lakh (US$43,000)

Teams

Current Teams

There are eight franchises competing in league. The franchises are named after a city it is representing in the state. Each team can have a maximum of 22 players that includes two outstation players.

Defunct teams

Timeline of teams

Present teams Former teams

Venues

Three venues were used for the first few seasons until 2019. Dindigul and Tirunelveli hosted matches in the league stages and the playoffs in Chennai.

Salem and Coimbatore started hosting matches from the 2020 season.

Panaroma of the M A Chidambaram stadium

Tournament seasons and results

Finals

Teams' performances

• Teams are listed alphabetically by year of entry into the league

^† Team now defunct ^{^} Final was a no-result and trophy shared

•      C: champions
•      RU: runner-up
•      SF or PO: team qualified for the semi-final or playoff stage of the competition

Records

Highest totals

Sources:

Highest individual scores

Sources:

Title sponsorship

From 2016 to 2019, India Cements Limited (Sankar Cement) owned the title rights of the league. A tender for new title rights sponsor was released in March 2020 by TNCA.

Broadcasting

In 2016, Star India acquired the media rights for ₹7.1 crore and became the broadcast partners of the league. The deal is worth between ₹7.2 crore and 10 crore for the first year, and ₹8 crore and 12 crore in the second, based on calculations. Disney Star broadcasts the matches on Star Sports 1 HD with English Commentary and in Star Sports 1 Tamil HD with Tamil Commentary. Star also broadcast via their OTT platform, Disney+ Hotstar.

Satellite Television Rights

Digital Rights

See also

• List of regional T20 cricket leagues in India