TNPL to kick off on 19th July, all matches to be played at the Chepauk

The fifth edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), local T20 tournament of Tamil Nadu will kick off on 19th July after the state government gave clearance to host the event.

The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai will host all the matches in the tournament including the final which was confirmed by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) secretary R S Ramasaamy said.

“The Tamil Nadu government formally approved holding the TNPL 2021 tournament on July 1 subject to no spectators and strict Covid protocols. After discussions with all the stakeholders, it was decided to start the 2021 edition of TNPL from July 19 to August 15,” Ramasaamy was quoted as saying in a press release on Wednesday.

All 8 teams in the competition are currently undergoing the mandatory self-isolation before the tournament and will begin practice on 9th July.

“The teams are starting their practice on July 9 at Chepauk after extensive testing, quarantine and following strict bubble rules. The BCCI Anti-corruption team will be in place for the tournament for education and monitoring,” Ramasaamy added.

Players like Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar, R Sai Kishore, Sandeep Warrier and Varun Chakravarthy won’t be available for the entirety of the tournament owing to national commitments. Meanwhile, wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik who is currently having a commentary stint in the UK is also likely to miss out. The only big name in the tournament will be Vijay Shankar who was part of the Indian World Cup squad in 2019.

Meanwhile, all the 32 matches in the competition will be played at the Cheapuk and the tournament will be telecasted by the Star Sports network including Star Sports Tamil. The doubleheaders in the tournament will be held without any break.

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