Tamil Nadu Premier League 2017: All you need to know about TNPL 2017
After the success of the inaugural edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League, the tournament is back for the second edition that kicks off on 22 July 2017. Albert TUTI Patriots, who are the defending champions kick off the tournament as they take on Dindigul Dragons at the M.A Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.
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The stars who made the first edition a huge success are back once again as are a new batch of young players who will be looking to make their mark on the tournament. Although the tournament has been unable to get the clearance for out-station players such as Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan and Yuzvendra Chahal, who expressed interest in taking part in the tournament, there are still plenty of stars on display.
Here is Everything you need to know about the Tamil Nadu Premier League 2017:
Changes from the inaugural edition
There is just one main change to the second edition of the TNPL and that is the format of the playoffs. While the inaugural edition of the tournament saw two semi-finals and then the winners contesting the final, this edition will see the IPL-style format being used with two qualifiers and an eliminator deciding which teams progress through to the final.
The other slight change as far as the tournament is concerned is the timings of the matches. Unlike last year, matches this year will begin at 7.30 PM apart from days in which there are two matches, wherein they will be played at 3.30 PM and 7.30 PM.
All eight teams who competed in the first edition are back this time around, although two teams have made slight tweaks to their names. The franchise owned by Ruby have become the Ruby Trichy Warriors instead of the Ruby Kanchi Warriors.
And following in the footsteps of the Pune franchise, the Madurai franchise have decided to drop the “s” at the end of their name and will be Madurai Super Giant and will be looking to replicate the performance of Pune, who made it to the final of IPL 2017.