Dindigul Dragons players R. Ashwin and B. Indrajith at a practice session ahead of the TNPL match against Lyca Kovai Kings on Thursday.  
| Photo Credit: M. PERIASAMY

The IPL might have just ended less than 48 hours ago, but T20 league action will continue in the country when the ninth edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League kicks off at the Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts and Science here on Thursday.

In the opening fixture, defending champion Dindigul Dragons, led by former India off-spinner R. Ashwin, will take on the Lyca Kovai Kings in a rematch of last year’s summit clash.

The TNPL has been a nurturing ground for players from the state to take the next step. As many as 11 cricketers from Tamil Nadu featured in the recently concluded IPL, and most of them have benefited from the T20 league that started in 2016.

B. Sai Sudharsan, who finished as the highest run-getter in the IPL, was one of the most recent finds of the TNPL when he burst onto the scene in a breakout season for Kovai Kings in 2021.

The eight-team tournament will be played across four venues, starting in Coimbatore before moving to Salem and Tirunelveli. Dindigul will host the final leg of the tournament, including the Playoffs.

There have been some significant changes in team composition post the mega auction earlier this year, with some big names, including Vijay Shankar and M. Mohammed, finding new homes.

The Chennai-born former UAE leg-spinner Karthik Meiyappan, who scalped a hat-trick against Sri Lanka in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, has returned home and will make his TNPL debut. This year, the TNPL will have DRS calls for wides and no-balls.

With the IPL scouts expected to be scouring across the venues, it will be a chance for TN’s bright hopefuls to show their wares and follow in the footsteps of the likes of Sai Sudharsan, T. Natarajan, and Varun Chakarvarthy.

TNPL schedule: League stages: At Coimbatore: June 5-11; At Salem: June 13-19; At Tirunelveli: June 21-26; At Dindigul: June 28-29; Playoffs (At Dindigul): Qualifier 1: July 1; Eliminator: July 2; Qualifier 2: July 4; Final: July 6.