T20 cricket has gripped the entire nation, and in a country like India where cricket is a religion, there is no match to the amount of cricket being played.
With the Indian Premier League enjoying so much success in the last ten years, the state associations now have started leagues of their own too.
One such league is the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) which just like the IPL, has attracted a lot of viewership not in Tamil Nadu but other states of the country as well.
The major reason for this success is the number of significant names participating in the league.
With national team players like Ravichandran Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Washington Sundar playing in the league, it has attracted a lot of fans.
Now, to keep those fans attached to the league and the teams, Dindigul Dragons have retained their star players Ravichandran Ashwin and `Narayan Jagdeeshan in for the third edition of the TNPL.
A source close to Dragons management said,
“We have retained Ashwin and are proud to have him in our side. He is a class player and the boys in our team draw a lot of inspiration from him,”
Talking about retaining the wicket-keeper batsman Jagdeeshan, the source said,
“He is an attacking batsman with a safe pair of hands behind the stumps. Wicketkeeping is vital in this format. Jagadeesan will be of immense value for us,”
On the other hand, the new owner of Tuti Patriots spoke about why his team did not retain star players like Dinesh Karthik, Abhinav Mukund and Washington Sundar who played for them last season.
“We have not retained any international player. If we retain one, it will dent our bids in the draft. So we have retained promising players like Akash Sumra, Anand Subramaniam and Ganesh Moorthi. Former Tamil Nadu captain R Prasanna will be our new coach,’’.
New coach Prasanna added, “It’s a big challenge for me. Tuti won the first edition and reached the final in the second. So expectations will be high. I hope to live up to them. My stint with the Kovai side as assistant coach will come in handy. There is no pressure from the owners. Eagerly waiting for the player draft,’’