The Indian Premier League has been a massive success, amassing huge revenues and captivating the audiences through its glitzy action on and off the field. It has had its fair share of controversies and was marred by the matching fixing scandals that shocked the cricketing world as a number of high profile stars hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons.
However, the kind of money that went into the game had lured other cricketing boards to start leagues of their own which gave rise to various leagues around the world from the Big Bashes to the CPLs to the Natwest T20s. There has been abundance in the number of leagues that are doing the rounds these days and among these tall trees is a seed called the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) which has been sowed to nurture the young talent in the country by providing them a chance to play alongside their heroes.
Unlike other leagues, there is a large focus on youngsters with each franchise comprising of one star player while the rest of the squad is made up of young talent, hoping to make inroads into the national team through impressive performances in this league, which provides a good platform to catch the eyes of the selectors.
The league features as many as eight teams sweating it to win the coveted trophy with the likes of R Ashwin, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik and L Balaji in the fray, while the franchises have also managed to secure the services of international icons like Lance Klusner and Michael Bevan.
One only hopes that initiatives like these provide a good platform for young stars to showcase their talents and make it big on the international circuit and earn a fortune for themselves in addition to the lucrative benefits that go behind the setting up of such leagues.
