TNPL Auction 2023: Lyca Kovai Kings picks B. Sai Sudharsan for record sum of ₹21.60 lakh

Incidentally, Sudharsan will earn more in the TNPL than in the IPL, where Gujarat Titans picked him up at his base price of Rs 20 lakh last year.

Lyca Kovai Kings batter B. Sai Sudharsan acknowledges the crowd during TNPL 2022. | Photo Credit: Periasamy M/ The Hindu

B. Sai Sudharsan was the big winner at the first-ever Tamil Nadu Premier League player auction on Thursday.

.Lyca Kovai Kings bought the left-handed top-order batter for a record sum of ₹21.60 lakh, getting back the player it released before the auction.

Incidentally, Sudharsan will earn more in the TNPL than in the IPL, where Gujarat Titans picked him up at his base price of ₹20 lakh last year.

Since its inception, the TNPL has been using a player draft system. But after six editions, it decided to go for an IPL-style auction, with each team having a purse of ₹70 lakh.

The other big winners of the auction were brothers R. Sanjay Yadav and R. Sonu Yadav.

Chepauk Super Gillies signed the elder sibling, Sanjay, a left-arm orthodox all-rounder, for ₹17.60 lakh. Sonu, a medium-pace all-rounder, was signed by Nellai Royal Kings for ₹15.20 lakh, with the brothers swapping teams from last year.

In the first set, international cricketers went under the hammer, with all-rounder Vijay Shankar fetching ₹10.25 lakh from Idream Tiruppur Tamizhans while Siechem Madurai Panthers bought Washington Sundar for ₹6.75 lakh.

Dragons skipper R. Ashwin welcomed the auction format saying, “I always thought the draft wasn’t a fair system. The idea behind the draft is that it distributes the players evenly to teams. But as always, the perception changes, and if a team fails to get a player it wants in a draft, it could affect their combination badly. I hope teams will be evenly matched as this presents an opportunity to create a level playing field.” 

Kovai Kings skipper M. Shahrukh Khan said, “Sai (Sudharsan) has been an important member for us in the last two years. With his impact in big games, he is a certainty in our team. Since he was released, the plan was to go all out for him as long as possible.”

Players bought on day one of the auction

Chepauk Super Gillies:  N. Jagadeesan, U. Sasidev, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, B. Aparajith, S. Harish Kumar, R. Sanjay Yadav, R. Sathish, Rahil S Shah, R. Rohit, M. Silambarasan, R. Sibi.

Dindigul Dragons:  R. Ashwin, C.V. Varun, B. Indrajith, Subodh Kumar Bhati, P. Saravana Kumar, Adithya Ganesh, Shivam Singh, G. Kishoor, G. Hemanth Kumar. 

IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans:  Tushar Raheja, Vijay Shankar, R. Vivek, S. Ajith Ram, R. Sai Kishore, B. Anirudh Sita Ram, N.S. Chaturved, G. Periyasamy, H. Trilog Nag, K. Vishal Vaidhya, G. Parthasarathy. 

Lyca Kovai Kings: M. Shahrukh Khan, J. Suresh Kumar, M. Siddharth, B. Sai Sudarshan, M. Mohammed, B. Sachin, Gowtham Thamarai Kannan.

Nellai Royal Kings:  G. Ajitesh,  V.S. Karthick Manikandan, Sandeep Warrier, S. Mohan Prasath, R. Sonu Yadav, K.B. Arun Karthik, A. Aswin Crist, Nidhish S Rajagopal, R. Niranjan, R. Mithun, Rithik Eswaran. 

BA11SY Trichy:  W. Antony Dhas, T. Natarajan, Darryl S Ferrario, Monish Sathish, Athisayaraj Davidson, Ganga Sridhar Raju, R. Silambarasan, Jafar Jamal, R. Alexander, K. Mani Bharathi, R. Rajkumar, M Shajahan, Francis Rokins, Akshay V Srinivasan, K. Eshwaran, G. Godson.

Salem Spartans: M. Ganesh Moorthi, M. Kaushik Gandhi, R.S. Jagannath Srinivas, Abhishek Tanwar, Akash Sumra, Maan K Bafna, Sunny Sandhu, S. Abhishek, Muhammad Adnan Khan, Amit Satvik, J. Gowri Shankar, R.S. Mokit Hariharan. 

Siechem Madurai Panthers: V. Gowtham, Washington Sundar, J. Kousik, Swapnil K Singh, M. Ashwin, C. Hari Nishanth, P. Shijit Chandran, S. Sri Abhishek, V. Adhithya, Gurjapneet Singh.