Tamil Nadu's Jolly Rovers rope in Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin in action during the  World T20 earlier this year

Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was involved in the biggest transfer of the Tamil Nadu domestic circuit, as reported by The Hindu. He was bought by Jolly Rovers from defending champions Vijay Cricket Club. Thursday was the last transfer day to register players for the first game of the TNCA (Tamil Nadu Cricket Association) first division league which is scheduled to get underway next week. Jolly Rovers also roped in top-order batsman M. Shahrukh Khan from Grand Slam and left-arm spinner DT Chandrasekar. Ashwin will be playing a major part in the forthcoming India’s tour of the West Indies, beginning in July this year.

Meanwhile, Alwarpet Cricket Club have signed Gurkeerat Singh Mann, and teenage southpaw Abhishek Sharma, both hailing from Punjab. Vijay Cricket Club was not extremely active in the transfer market; they already have a strong batting line-up and will possibly push for a consecutive treble win.

UFCC (T. Nagar) hired Chirag Jani, an all-arounder from Saurashtra and Grand Slam signed Ian Dev Singh of Jammu and Kashmir. Ian Dev Singh was the fifth highest run scorer in the previous Ranji season with 773 runs in eight matches, which was the highest amongst his team-mates.

Young Star Cricket Club will have the services of Madhya Pradesh’s Jalaj Saxena and Ganesh Satish at their disposal who would like to forget the loss to India Pistons in the Plate final. They also signed teenager Nidhish Rajagopal.

Relegated teams ICF and Nelson FC will pave the way for CromBest and Triplicane SC, who were promoted to the first division. Crombest will be having the likes of Delhi’s Ankur Julka, who scored 832 runs at an average of 104 for the side last year.  

Hardik and Krunal Pandya will also feature in the competition. They have been employed by Swaraj Cricket Club, which plays in the second division of the Tamil Nadu domestic circuit.

Each team is permitted only two out stationed players in their squad for the competition.