Defending Champions, Tuti Patriots, blocked from taking part in TNPL 2017

Tuti Patriots, the defending Champions of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) might not feature in this year’s tournament if things do not get resolved. Their participation is under serious threat after a principal district court blocked their involvement in the tournament after a case was filed by the Indian Bank authorities over the failure to pay back a loan.

The story:

The team was bought for 5.21 crores by Albert Muralitharan who owns the Albert Theatre. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) under whom the TNPL comes under will go to higher court in order to get an interim stay on the judgement.

“We have not recieved the copy of the order yet. Even though it is an issue of the franchise, the TNCA will file an appeal on their behalf because it puts the entire tournament in a jeopardy. This an eleventh-hour problem and we cannot find another team. Moreover, the players will be in a limbo. It doesn’t just affect the owners, but the entire league,” an official part of the TNPL organising committee told Express on Tuesday.

Thoothukudi Sports and Entertainment Private Limited, a group led by Albert Muralitharan is the owner of Tuti Patriots. According to bank officials, the team had taken a loan from the India Bank main branch in Thoothukudi, and the team did not return the money despite repeated warnings from the bank officials. The loan account has been classified as a Non-Performing Asset (NPA), a bank official said.

“The bank has advised the Tuti Patriots team to pay the loan amount on or before November 2016. However, they have not paid the amount within the stipulated time. In this situation, the team is also enrolled in the TNPL-2017 season. So we have approached the court to direct the Tuti Patriots team to repay our loan first before playing matches in the second season of TNPL. Considering our plea, the court has imposed an interim ban for the team to participate in the TNPL.” said V Radhakrishnan, General Manager, Indian Bank (Tirunelveli Zone).