Sai Kishore & Sanjay share costliest player tag

CHENNAI: The auction for the eighth edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) took place on Wednesday with Sai Kishore and Sanjay Yadav breaking the record for the most expensive buys in TNPL auction history with a whopping rs 22 lakh at a grand auction gala held at the Chepauk Stadium.

It was a bidding war from the start, as Sai Kishore was the first player in the draw, and all the teams were tempted to go for the left-arm spinner, who is currently leading the Tamil Nadu Ranji team. After a fierce battle in the arena among three teams, IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans got the 27-year-old once again to represent its team for the 2024 season as well. They also bagged another marquee player, T Natrajan for rs 11.25 lakh.

Soon after the mammoth price was set in the 2024 auction, Sanjay Yadav went for the same price as Sai Kishore and was sold to the Trichy Grand Cholas for rs 22 lakh. The batting all-rounder was the second-most expensive player in the 2023 season when Chepauk Super Gillies bought him for rs 17.6 lakh. Salem Spartans, after having a tough season last year and finishing seventh in the table, will be looking to turn the tides this season with their top buy, Harish Kumar, who becomes the third expensive buy of the season.

They also bagged the experienced Poiyamozhi and Vivek to balance the side in all three departments. Another franchise that always likes to tick all the boxes in their squad is Chepauk Super Gillies, who secured the all-rounder Abhishek Tanwar as their top buy for rs 12.2 lakh. And they also brought Periyasamy G back to their squad.

Dindigul Dragons, who were in need of a fast bowler to bowl upfront, signed Sandeep Warrior for rs 10.5 lakh, who was part of the Nellai Royal Kings team last season. The defending champions, Lyca Kovai Kings, had a silent auction this year as they retained the majority of the players. They bought three players to fill up their 20-member squad, retaining 17 of them.

The auction floor witnessed an intense battle between teams to pick their top players ahead of the tournament, which will commence later this year in the month of June.

N Srinivasan congratulates Ashwin

N Srinivasan who attended the auction of the eighth edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) acknowledged Ravichandran Ashwin’s contribution to Tamil Nadu and cricket in general. Ashwin was part of the Indian team that defeated England in the second test in Vizag with Ashwin playing a large part of that match by bagging three crucial wickets in the second innings. Srinivasan also congratulated Ashwin on reaching a historic milestone of 499 wickets in Test cricket and wished him luck.