BCCI vetoes decision to include outstation players in the TNPL

The Board of Control for Cricket In India (BCCI) has declared that the 88 outstation players who have registered for the second edition of  Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) would not be allowed to take part in the tournament. The BCCI has shot a letter to Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) emphasising that the state associations are not eligible to allow outstation players in their T20 leagues.

BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary sought an explanation from TNCA, and also attached the proceeding of a working committee meeting that dealt with the issue a few years ago. Several top-tier Indian players registered for the draft including Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Sanju Samson.

TNCA’s move

It’s now been revealed, though these players have submitted their names to be included in the TNPL draft, the Indian cricket board was absolutely clueless about the development. The Tamil Nadu state association, on the contrary, delved that outstation players who got registered with TNCA league teams would be automatically included in the auction draft.

According to Indian Express, a BCCI official stated, “A letter has been sent along with minutes of a BCCI working committee decision from a few years back which clearly says that outstation players won’t be allowed in state association T20 league. We will wait for TNCA response now but BCCI stands remains the same as before,”

Apart from BCCI, the Maharashtra Cricket Association has also made it clear that their state players will not take part in TNPL. The association did not grant a No Objection Certificate(NOC) for Maharashtra batsman Rahul Tripathi, who had a successful IPL 10 season for Pune Supergiant. Tripathi has now withdrawn his name.

The TNPL’s flagship season was a big success but the ball is now in BCCI’s court whether to accommodate the league’s ambitious plans to have outstation players. The second season is scheduled to kick off on July 22.