Vijay Shankar will don Chepauk Super Gillies’ colours after he was snapped up by the reigning champions in the player draft for the third edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League that was held at the ITC Grand Chola in Chennai on Thursday.

India’s T20I all-rounder Vijay Shankar had turned out for LYCA Kovai Kings in the previous edition. Meanwhile, Washington Sundar was bought back by Tuti Patriots, champions of the inaugural edition.

A total of 772 players had registered for the draft of the TNPL.

India cricketer Dinesh Karthik was picked up by iDream Karaikudi Kaalai. The ’keeper-batsman had previously played for Tuti Patriots.

Both Karthik and Sundar figure in the India squad for the limited-overs leg of the England tour comprising of 3 T20I and as many ODIs which concludes on July 17, and in the current scenario will only miss the first week of action in TNPL-3 which kicks off on July 11.

Rajagopal Sathish, who led Chepauk Super Gillies to success last season, was bought by Tuti Patriots while Test openers Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund were picked up by Ruby Trichy Warriors and LYCA Kovai Kings respectively.

Among other prominent players, W Antony Dhas will turn out for LYCA Kovai Kings, S Lokeshwar for VB Kanchi Veerans, Kaushik Gandhi stays with Tuti Patriots, T Natarajan moves to LYCA Kovai Kings, S Anirudha stays with iDream Karaikudi Kaalai, M Ashwin moves to Chepauk Super Gillies, R Sai Kishore to Tuti Patriots and V Yo Mahesh to iDream Karaikudi Kaalai.

Each of the eight teams had retained three players ahead of the draft. These players were divided into three categories:
Category A: Those who have represented senior National team – Rs 5lakh/Rs 4 lakh/Rs 3 lakh.
Category B: Rs 2.5 lakh/ Rs 2 lakh/ Rs 1.5 lakh (B1: Those who have played First-Class tournaments conducted by the BCCI (multi-day/One-Day/T20; B2: Those who have not played senior domestic tournaments conducted by the BCCI and those who have played more than 75 % of TNPL games for a team over the last two years).
Category C: Other players Rs 1 lakh/ Rs. 0.75 lakh/ 0.5 lakh.

Ashwin to lead Dindigul Dragons

India Test cricketer R Ashwin will lead Dindigul Dragons.

The lanky off-spinner will play in the initial matches of the league, the team owner H R Srinivasan said.

“It was an advantage to have Ravichandran Ashwin (retained by the team) at the player draft to select the best possible combination. Ashwin will be participating in the initial matches, after which he is expected to get busy with international duty,” he said.

N Jagadeesan will lead in his absence, he added.

Ashwin, who is part of the National squad for the Test series against England, is likely to leave in the middle of the league.