Logistical reasons for the push back from original start in June

The third edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League T20 tournament will commence from the first week of July and will go on for one month.

Following a governing council meeting that was held earlier this week, it was decided to push back the tournament by one month from the original early June start, with the player draft for the upcoming season to be held in the last week of May.

The eight-team franchise based competition was started in 2016, with Chennai, Dindigul and Tirunelveli serving as the venues in the last two years.

Coimbatore as venue?

Coimbatore could join as the fourth venue this year and a decision on the same is expected in two weeks.

A source close to the development said, “The reason for the move to July is there were some logistical issues with the IPL concluding in the last week of May.

Also Star, the broadcaster, felt there could be an overdose of T20 cricket if it was held so close after the IPL.”

Ahead of this year’s edition, each team has been allowed three retentions with rest going into the draft pool to level the competition.

A team can retain a maximum of only one international player and if the side does not have an international player, can retain up to two players who have played for the senior State team.

If a team decides to go for three retentions, the third player has to be uncapped (who has not played for the senior State team).

Change of ownership

The governing council also has allowed in-principle approval for ownership changes of two teams.

The Madurai Super Giants team which was owned by Kothari (Madras) has transferred its ownership to P. Damodaren of Siechem, with the paperwork currently under progress.

Albert Tuti Patriots, which won the inaugural edition and finished runner-up last year, will have a new owner after Albert Muralidharan sold his entire stake to a consortium of Mr. Selvakumar, Jones and Jay Yes Foundation.

The player registration for the TNPL commenced last month and has received more than 800 entries with a few more days left.