With the 2016-17 TNCA first division league set to get underway next week, Thursday was the last day for the teams to register players for the first game. The biggest transfer was that of R. Ashwin, who moved from defending champion Vijay CC to arch-rival Jolly Rovers.
Rovers, which has lost the last two finals to Vijay, has also signed top-order batsman M. Shahrukh Khan from Grand Slam, and left-arm spinner D.T. Chandrasekar and Maharashtra’s Ankit Bawne from Alwarpet.
Alwarpet has signed two players from Punjab — Gurkeerat Mann and the 16-year-old left-hander batsman Abhishek Sharma — as its outstation players. With a star-studded line-up already at its disposal, Vijay, which won a treble last season, has not made any major signing.
UFCC (T. Nagar) has roped in Saurashtra all-rounder Chirag Jani while Grand Slam has signed Jammu & Kashmir player Ian Dev Singh.
The latter was the fifth-highest run-getter in the last Ranji season with 773 runs from eight matches, and was the leading run-scorer for his side.
Young Stars, which lost to India Pistons in the Plate final, will have Madhya Pradesh’s Jalaj Saxena and Vidarbha’s Ganesh Satish as its outstation players. It has also signed the 16-year-old Nidhish Rajagopal.
CromBest and Triplicane SC, the two promoted sides, have replaced ICF and Nelson SC. Last year, Delhi’s Ankur Julka, who smashed 832 runs at an average of 104 for CromBest, will continue to play for the side.
The team, which has signed Hyderabad’s Hanuma Vihari, will also have the experienced Wilkins Victor who has moved from Young Stars.