CHENNAI: The two-day auction of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association’s 7th TNPL came to an end on Friday. The dynamics of the auction saw many youngsters bag a price higher than the established names.
Dindigul Dragons, led by ace India all-rounder R Ashwin, picked players mostly on expected lines but there were also a couple of surprises.
The choices of Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 6.75 lakhs) and B Indrajith (Rs 6 lakhs) were on expected lines but Subodh Kumar Bhati (Rs 10.4 lakhs) and Shivam Singh (Rs 15.95 lakhs) were a surprise. “You see everyone knows Varun’s potential in the T20 format so we went for him as he was a proven performer. Indrajith is a two-in-one player. He can bat anywhere and can also keep wickets.
And in case Ashwin is on national duty, Indrajith can lead the team as well. As far as Bhati goes, he is a player in the Sonu Yadav mould and will definitely be an asset for us. Shivam is someone who can bat really well under pressure at the top-order and can also bowl spin,’’ revealed M Venkataramana, the franchise coach.
“We have also picked up youngsters like Vimal (Rs 1.5 lakhs), Boopathi (Rs 1.7 lakhs) and Affan (Rs 50,000) as the format is all about youth,’’ he added. Nellai Royal Kings did not hunt for bog names, did their homework well and seemed to have ticked all the boxes.
In T20, medium-pacers have a big role to play, thus they roped in Sandeep Warrier, R Sonu Yadav and Aswin Crist. They have spinners in Karthick Manikandan VS and S Mohan Prasath. “Quality bowlers are very important in T20. You need medium-pacers who can take wickets in the power play and also bowl economically in the death. Thus we went for Sandeep, Sonu and Aswin Crist.
These three could easily form one of the best new ball attack in the tournament. Plus we have young spinner Karthick Manikandan who was impressive last season and talented Mohan Prasath,’’ said Chandramouli R, co-owner of the Nellai team.
A total of 144 players were picked by the teams in the two-day TNPL auction.