5 players who rose to stardom after TNPL 2016
The second edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League is just a few days. The immense success and popularity of the first edition means that the anticipation ahead of this tournament ahead of the opening game on July 22 is sky high. TNPL 2016 was a huge success not only because of the quality of cricket on display but also the new talents it unearthed.
Over the course of the tournament, although several established stars such as Ravichandran Ashwin, Abhinav Mukund, Dinesh Karthik and Laxmipathy Balaji performed brilliantly, it was the rise of players that few had heard of that made it all the more interesting. Some of those players, who performed brilliantly in the TNPL, went onto bigger and better things.
Here are five players who rose to stardom after TNPL 2016.
#1 Aswin Crist
Unlike many players who took to the maiden edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League, Aswin Crist went into it, having already made his debut for Tamil Nadu across all formats. The 23-year-old was in and out of the Tamil Nadu side but it was thanks to his performance in the TNPL 2016 that he became a regular member of the TN side.
He was the leading wicket-taker for the Albert TUTI Patriots, who won the inaugural TNPL and he finished with 12 wickets in 9 matches at an economy rate of under 7. And he never looked back after that as he became the spearhead of the TN attack across all formats in the 2016/17 season.
In the Ranji Trophy, the fast bowler picked up 35 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 27 and in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he topped the wickets charts with 20 wickets at an economy of just over 5 in 9 matches. In the inter-zonal T20s, he finished with five wickets in three matches at an economy of just over 6 and then was picked to represent India under-23 team in the ACC emerging teams cup.