TNPL 2020 postponed due to COVID-19

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association has decided to postpone the 5th edition of TNPL tournament which was to start from 10th June 2020. The decision was put forth by R S Ramasaamy, Hon. Secretary in a media release on Monday, May 18. The upcoming edition of the T20 tournament was set to be an eight-team affair and the dates of hosting it were from June 10 to July 12 at four venues.

The revised schedule will be released in due course. The coronavirus cases in India is slowly nearing towards one lakh with over 3,000 deaths already being reported. In Tamil Nadu, nearly 80 persons have lost their lives with over 1,220 being affected. Earlier, the lockdown in May was extended to May 31 and it’s now over two months that the same is being implemented in India due to COVID-19.

TNPL has a window until September 15

Previously, the decision over postponing the league was based on the lockdown period. “We still don’t know if there will be a partial lockdown or not in May. We have to wait and watch. Maybe the tournament will be postponed by two-three weeks depending on the lockdown. If everything opens by May, then we will be on schedule.

But even if there is a partial lockdown, we will be forced to postpone the TNPL by a few weeks,” sources, privy to the development, was quoted as saying in The New Indian Express. The TNPL has a window until September 15. The organisers are also willing to host the tournament behind closed doors.

The T20 tournament has had a number of foreign commentators associated with it. Brad Hogg, Dean Jones, Scott Styris have worked as commentators in the previous editions. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) had previously extended the tender deadline for title rights for the 2020 edition.

The previous edition of the tournament took place from the mid of July to the mid of August. The Chepauk Super Gillies, led by Kaushik Gandhi, beat the Dindigul Dragons, led by Narayan Jagadeesan, by 12 runs in the final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.