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“Where Talent Meets Opportunity” – This sentence is the ‘mantra’ of Indian Premier League, and these are the words inscribed on the IPL trophy. As the slogan suggests, IPL has laid down a huge platform for the youngsters (in both India & around the world) to display their talents to the worldwide audience.
When Chennai Super Kings were banned for two seasons, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) came up with an idea of their own domestic IPL based T20 tournament. Last Sunday, Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) completed its third season. Even CSK captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, made his presence felt during one of the league matches.
Within a short span of time, TNPL has already produced so many exciting prospects than any other franchise-based state T20 competition in India. Because of TNPL, players like N Jagadeesan and T Natarajan had already bagged IPL contracts.
With all the matches being telecasted live, TNPL has reached every part of India. As a result, the scouts of various IPL teams always have an eye on the tournament like TNPL. Let us look at three standout performers from TNPL 2018 who can bag an IPL contract next year.
#3 V ATHISAYARAJ DAVIDSON
Athisayaraj is the only player in the short history of TNPL to finish among the top three wicket-takers list twice. Since the inception of IPL, the 'slingy' bowler has been associated with the TUTI Patriots.
He missed the most of the first season due to injury. He took three wickets from two games in the inaugural season. The second season was a fabulous one for the speedster. He picked up 15 wickets from nine games and played a massive role in the team’s unbeaten run to the final.
In this season, he continued from where he left last year, as he bagged 13 wickets from just seven games.
The Indian version of ‘Lasith Malinga’ has already attended a trial with Mumbai Indians in a failed attempt. His round-arm action along with pinpoint yorkers at the death-overs is the main reason behind his success.
His consistent bowling performances have put him in a better place ahead of the next IPL season.
#2 ARUN KARTHICK KB
In the first two seasons of TNPL, the Madurai franchise had not even won a single game. Ahead of the third season, the owners, support staff, captain and majority of the squad got overhauled. However, one man (along with very few others) remained the same in the entire history of Madurai franchise.
Arun Karthick, the former Tamil Nadu Ranji player, is the ‘hero’ of TNPL 2018. He almost single-handedly won the title for the franchise. He amassed 472 runs from 10 innings with a whopping strike rate of 153.74. Besides, he had six 50+ scores against his name in this season. In short, his batting prowess resembles the form of Virat Kohli during 2016 IPL.
KB is not a newcomer to the IPL. In the 2011 season, he played for Royal Challengers Bangalore. His only significant contribution for RCB came against Southern Redbacks during the now-defunct Champions League T20 in the year 2011. His last ball six sealed the match for RCB. In the process, RCB qualified for the semi-finals.
#1 VARUN CHAKRAVATHI V
Plenty of eyebrows were raised when the Madurai-based franchise picked Varun as their first player during the draft. With so many experienced players available during the first round of the draft, Madurai decided to go for the unknown rookie.
Nevertheless, Varun changed the entire complexion of the franchise along with KB. If KB waved the magic with his bat, then Varun bamboozled the batsmen with the ball. The leggie bamboozled the batsmen with his googlies.
He bowled 40 overs in the entire competition with a mind-blowing economy rate of 4.7. His dot-ball percentage was 52.08. The numbers are jaw dropping as he predominantly bowls one-over upfront, one in the middle, and two in the slog overs.
His tremendous ability to curb the run flow during the slog overs will definitely fetch him an IPL contract next year.
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