2018 TNPL: List of players retained by the teams

The third season of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) is just around the corner and the teams have already started to work on the player draft. Ahead of the player draft, the teams have retained the players they wanted to ahead of the 2018 edition.

The TNPL Governing Council have already listed down the things each franchise should do in the player retentions. According to the guidelines, each franchise has been allowed to retain three players and this includes a maximum of one cricketer who has represented India.

If the franchise does not have an international player, it can hold on to a maximum of two cricketers who have played for the State senior side.

If a side opts to retain three players, at least one of them has to be uncapped; someone who has not turned out for Tamil Nadu. A team can also choose not to retain any cricketer and start from scratch.

Let us take a look at the list of players who were retained by all the eight teams.

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Tuti Patriots

The most consistent side in the history of TNPL, Tuti Patriots had the likes of India internationals Dinesh Karthik, Abhinav Mukund and Washington Sundar in their squad for the first season and along with them, they also had quite a few Tamil Nadu players including Kaushik Gandhi, Aswin Crist and Aushik Srinivas.

Surprisingly, the franchise retained batsman Anand Subramanian, all-rounder Akash Sumra and slow left-arm spinner Ganesh Moorthy. It is quite understandable that the likes of Karthik and Washington were not retained as they would be busy with their national commitments in England.

Chepauk Super Gillies

The defending champions of the TNPL, Chepauk Super Gillies have surprised everyone by retaining S Karthik, U Sasidev and RK Alexander. This comes as a surprise to many because they also had some Tamil Nadu veterans in Yo Mahesh, R Sathish, KH Gopinath, Thala Sargunam etc in their ranks.

Adding to these names, they also had slow left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore, who attended trials with few IPL sides ahead of the 2018 IPL auction. The team management has backed the young players and it will be interesting to see how they do in the draft and the tournament.

Lyca Kovai Kings

Lyca Kovai Kings, who had Indian Test opener Murali Vijay and all-rounder Vijay Shankar in the last couple of seasons have released both their internationals, along with a few Tamil Nadu players including pacer K Vignesh, opener L Suryaprakash, batsman B Anirudh Sitaram, all-rounder Harish Kumar, veteran spinner J Syed Mohammad etc.

The franchise have retained wicketkeeper-batsman Rohith Ravikumar, opener Pradosh Ranjan Paul and spinner S Ajith Ram.

Madurai Super Giant

Madurai Super Giant finished at the bottom of the table in the first two editions and the fans will expect the team to do well in the third edition. They will have to build a squad from scratch as they have retained only veteran batsman KB Arun Karthik, their captain Shijit Chandran and spinner R Karthikeyan.

The franchise will look to get some good players in the TNPL draft and make a team that will be capable of bettering their performances from previous years.

Ruby Trichy Warriors

Just like Madurai Super Giant, the Warriors also struggled to get going in the first season of the TNPL before they changed their base from Kanchipuram to Trichy. That didn't do them any good as they failed to finish in the top-4 in the second edition.

The Warriors have retained skipper and mainstay of Tamil Nadu, B Indrajith, along with their opening batsman Bharath Shankar and bowler K Vignesh ahead of the 2018 edition.

VB Thiruvallur Veerans

Thiruvallur Veerans are yet another team yet to reach the semi-finals of the TNPL. Veerans have often been a one-man army as their skipper Baba Aparajith has been the shining star for them over the last two seasons with some backing from his teammates.

As expected, Aparajith has been retained by the franchise but what is more surprising is that the team management have decided not to retain pacer Rohit Ramalingam and Malolan Rangarajan. Instead, they have opted for R Silambarasan and all-rounder Sanjay Yadav.

Dindigul Dragons

Dindigul Dragons were strong contenders for the TNPL title in the first season as they looked dominant in the league stage before losing to Tuti Patriots in the semi-finals. Last season, they failed to finish in the top-4 as they ended sixth out of the eight teams.

Going into the 2018 TNPL, they have retained the services of Indian star R Ashwin, wicketkeeper-batsman N Jagadeesan, who has been prolific for them and was bought by CSK in the IPL auction, and R Vivek. Their decision to retain Ashwin is quite surprising as the off-spinner will be busy with India commitments during the tournament.

Karaikudi Kaalai

After having an average first season, Karaikudi Kaalai finished third in the second season, eventually losing to Chepauk Super Gillies in the semis. They had the services of S Badrinath, who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket earlier today, former Tamil Nadu all-rounder Chandrasekar Ganapathy, former Chennai Super Kings batsman Aniruddha Srikanth etc. in the previous seasons.

None of their star players was retained by the franchise for TNPL 2018. Kaalai instead retained their all-rounder R Rajkumar, M Shajahan and S Mohan Prasath.