Tata Sons director JJ Irani (left) hands Shers skipper Shahbaz Nadeem the JPL winning cheque as the latter holds aloft the trophy in Ranchi on Saturday. (Hardeep Singh)

Ranchi, March 21: Tigers have claimed their turf, the rest can lick their wounds and prepare for next year’s Jharkhand Premier League (JPL).

It’s official now. Though Singhbhum Shers won the first edition of JPL, the real winner is Jharkhand’s T20 tourney.

“Though the JSCA international cricket stadium was not overflowing, the quality of cricket created a stir. Matches were beamed live across India and the Middle East,” said JPL convener Sunil Kumar Singh.

Nishant Dayal, director of Elite Sports Management and JPL co-hosts, chipped in: “I received queries from noted Indian cricketers, who saw matches on Ten Cricket, about some of our youngsters.”

Not surprising. Sample this. In the March 19 final, the highlight of the Shers’ winning innings (168 runs for 4 wickets) was opener Rameez Nemat’s 79 runs off 59 balls, with 2 sixes and 8 fours. Nemat showed one could keep the scoreboard ticking while playing genuine cricket shots. Shers skipper Shahbaz Nadeem took 3 wickets for 20 runs. Jaanbaaz boys folded up by the 19th over at 141.

The Shers won the trophy and a cash award of Rs 3 lakh, forcing Jaanbaaz to be content with a Rs 1 lakh booty.

Though the cash may seem modest, what is heartening is that franchisees appear keen about the tourney and players. “One of the franchisees, whose team incidentally didn’t feature in the finals, asked me if he could retain his team for the next JPL. It is a good sign,” said Singh.

Jharkhand’s young troika — Saurabh Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi and Varun Aaron — now eyeing the IPL biggie, have also thanked JPL for some great cricket. Au revoir, JPL.