India Cements, a patron of cricket and the original franchisee of Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings, is the title sponsor of the Tamil Nadu Premier League T20 tournament.

This was announced on Thursday when MS Dhoni, former captain of the Indian cricket test team and the Chennai Super Kings, unveiled the TNPL trophy.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, N Srinivasan, President of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, which is organising the TNPL, and Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements, said the “yellow shirt” (the cricketing colours of the Chennai Super Kings) will be back. The CSK is now serving a two-year ban from the IPL tournament.

CSK was banned by the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee, which had looked into allegations of match fixing and betting. “Unfortunately, we missed it (IPL) for one year. We may miss it for another year but the yellow shirt will be back,” Srinivasan said.

The Eight competing teams are — Chepauk Super Gillies, Tuti Patriots, VB Thiruvalluvar Veerans, Karaikudi Kaalai, Lyca Kovai Kings, Madurai Super Giants, Dindigul Dragons, and Ruby Kanchi Warriors.

The League will be a three-week-long series from the fourth week of August to mid-September. The matches will be played in Chennai, Tirunelveli and Natham.

According to Dhoni, a tournament like TNPL promotes cricket, and will take cricket to a lot of cities that are not used to watching big games. It will act as a motivational booster for all youngsters. With tournaments like T20, people are always on the look out for talent where they can prove themselves, he said.

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