T Natarajan, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, B Sai Sudharsan, R Sai Kishore and M Siddharth are all examples of players breaking into the IPL following successful seasons in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL). The 2024 TNPL season saw the emergence of a few players who have the skills to potentially join their seniors in the IPL. Here are five such players who could be on the IPL 2025 radar.
Role : Legspinner who operates in the middle overs, can also bowl left-arm fingerspin
Past IPL experience : Squad member at Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2024
An old-school legspinner who can get his stock ball to turn sharply, Jhathavedh proved difficult to get away across venues in Salem, Coimbatore, Dindigul and Chennai. At grounds with small boundaries, he smartly hid the ball away from the swinging arcs of batters with wide legbreaks and often challenged them to hit against the wind. Then, in the final against R Ashwin's Dindigul Dragons at Chepauk, he used the bigger square boundaries to his advantage and made Ashwin and B Indrajith work hard for runs. The 24-year-old can also bowl left-arm fingerspin, though he hasn't dipped into those ambidextrous skills across the last two TNPL seasons. His economy rate of 6.09 in nine games was the best among bowlers who had bowled at least 25 overs in TNPL 2024.
After a breakout TNPL season with Lyca Kovai Kings in 2023, he earned his maiden IPL deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad, but an injury he sustained during that season relegated him to the sidelines and he didn't get a single match at SRH. Perhaps, he has done enough to stay on the IPL radar.
P Vignesh (Dindigul Dragons)
Role : Left-arm fingerspinner who bowls in the powerplay and middle overs
Past IPL experience : None
In a spin attack that has Ashwin and Varun Chakravarthy, it can be difficult for a rookie spinner to make a mark, but 19-year-old P Vignesh managed to do that, emerging as Dindigul's most economical spinner. His economy rate of 6.19 was second only to Jhathavedh among all bowlers who had bowled at least 25 overs in this TNPL season. In the final at Chepauk, he came away with the big scalps of Sai Sudharsan and Shahrukh Khan on a rainy evening with a wet ball to help Dindigul restrict Kovai to 129 for 7.
Earlier this year, Vignesh had missed the cut for India's Under-19 World Cup squad, but he seized his opportunity in the TNPL and showed that he can keep it tight against left-handers as well by varying his pace and generating overspin.
Mohamed Ali (Idream Tiruppur Tamizhans)
Role : Offspin-bowling allrounder
Past IPL experience : None
Like Vignesh, Mohamed Ali missed the cut for India's Under-19 World Cup squad but has made an impression at the Ranji Trophy and more recently in TNPL 2024. Stepping in for Washington Sundar, Ali brought Washington-esque traits to Tamil Nadu's Ranji side: a high-arm action coupled with the ability to extract just enough turn and extra bounce, and batting depth. Some of those defensive bowling skills were on display at the TNPL, too, where he became Tiruppur's main allrounder after Vijay Shankar was sidelined with injury.
Against Shahrukh's Kovai, arguably the best TNPL side over the past three years, Ali clattered an unbeaten 45 off 23 balls, with four fours and three sixes, from No.4 in Qualifier 1 in Dindigul . All up, Ali scored 173 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 141.80 to go with nine wickets in nine innings at an economy rate of 7.83.
Sonu Yadav (Nellai Royal Kings)
Role : Seam-bowling allrounder
Past IPL experience : Squad member at Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2023
Born in Gorakhpur (UP) and bred in Tamil Nadu, 24-year-old Sonu Yadav has shown the ability to bowl across phases and hit boundaries lower down the order in the TNPL. He has quite a few variations in his repertoire, including yorkers and slower cutters. Those variations helped him take five wickets against Salem Spartans in Salem and the key wicket of Shivam Singh, the Dindigul Dragons batter who played for Punjab Kings in IPL 2024, in Dindigul. With the bat, Sonu faced 72 balls and sent 15 of those to the boundary, finishing the tournament with a strike rate of 163.88. Earlier this year, he got greater exposure in the UK along with Ali as part of the Tamil Nadu Colts team that played against some English clubs.
Role : Top-order batter
Past IPL experience : Played a solitary match for Punjab Kings in 2024
Talent scouts are often skeptical about selecting batters from the TNPL, considering the short boundaries at some of the venues, but Shivam might be an exception. An opening batter who can regularly pump the ball over the top, especially over the off side, and play scoops behind the wicket, Shivam finished as the top run-getter in TNPL 2024, with 364 runs in nine innings, including an unbeaten 106, at an average of 45.50 and strike rate of 134.81. At the post-match presentation after winning the title, Ashwin name-checked Shivam as one of the players who had "switched" their game to the next level this season.
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