Major League Cricket is the US-based franchise T20 league which will be the same as the IPL, BBL, CPL, etc. People think that the United States of America and Cricket have no relation right? But let us remind you that in 2004, The USA played in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy in England and since that huge day the graph of USA cricket has gone uphills only.
The reason behind embarking on this new journey of MLC is to groom and upgrade the standard of cricket in the USA. BY MLC, many top players around the globe will come to the USA to play the blockbuster event and local players will get the taste of some high-quality cricket in terms of batting, bowling, and fielding.
As far as the improvement of the indigenous players is concerned, it will not happen in one season but certainly, the process will begin, and post 3-4 seasons the USA may give birth to new standard cricketers through the Major Cricket League.
The maiden player draft for the inaugural Major League Cricket was conducted on 19th March 2023 in the Nasa Johnson Space Center in Houston. Each team had a purse of $1 million where $800000 was bound for overseas players and 3 lakh dollars for USA players. The franchises picked only local players in the draft as foreign cricketers were signed directly.
The tournament will kick off on the 13th of July and the final will be played on the 30th of July. In total 19 matches will be played among six teams following the round robin format.
Major League Cricket Teams
The American Cricket Enterprise has selected 6 cities to be named as teams in the brand-new season of Major League Cricket. Remember all teams are owned by ACE (American Cricket Enterprise), however, the prime investors will wield the teams.
Los Angeles Knight Riders and Squad
Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan-owned Knight Riders group will operate the Los Angeles Knight Riders based in Irvine, California. Their current squad includes Ali Khan, Unmukt Chand, Jaskaran Malhotra, Nitish Kumar, Corne Dry, Ali Sheikh, Saif Badar, Bhaskar Yadram, and Shadley Van Schalhywh.
MI New York and Squad
The cricket company that is also the owner of the most successful cricket franchises in the World “Mumbai Indians”, Mukesh Ambani’s Indiawin Sports has invested richly in the New York City emerged team, “MI New York”. The players of their squad are Steven Taylor, Hammad Azam, Eshan Adil, Manank Patel, Sarbajeet Ladda, Shayan Jahangir, Usman Rafik, Saideep Ganesh, and Nosthush Henjige.
Texas Super Kings and Squad
Chennai Super Kings, Real Estate developer Ross Perot Jr, and Anand Jain combinedly invested in the Texas-based MLC team where CSK may be the biggest contributor. Their squad consists of Rusty Theron, Calvin Savage, Lahiru Milantaha, Milind Kumar, Sami Aslam, Cameron Steveson, Cody Chetty, Zia Shahzad, and Saiteja Mukamalla.
Seattle Orcas and squad
The owner of the Delhi Capitals in IPL GMR group and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadela jointly hold some portions in the Seattle Orcas team of MLC. Seattle’s team has star wicket-keeper Quinton De Kock, Mitchell Marsh, Harmeet Singh, Shehan Jayasuriya, Shubham Ranjani, Cameron Gannon, Aaron Jones, Nauman Anwar, Phani Shimhardi, Angelo Perara, and Matthew Trump.
San Francisco Unicorns and Squad
Indian-origin entrepreneurs Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinaranyan are the co-owners of the San Francisco Unicorns team in the Major League Cricket. T20 World Cup-winning captain Aaron Finch will lead the team. And the rest of the current members are Marcus Stoinis, Corey Anderson, Liam Plunkett, Tajinder Singh, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Carmi Le Roux, Brody Couch, David White, Smit Patel, and Sanjay Krishnamurthi.
Washinton Freedom and Squad
The 6th team in the Major League Cricket is Washinton Freedom, which will be managed by Indian American entrepreneur Sanjay Govil. They have so far signed Anrich Nortje, Wanindu Hasaranga, Mukhtar Ahmed, Andries Gous, Saurabh Netravalhar, Saad Ali, Dane Piedt, Sujith Gowda, Justin Dill, and Akhilesh Bodugum.
| Teams | Owners |
| Los Angeles Knight Riders | Knight Riders Group |
| MI New York | Indiawin Sports |
| Texas Super Kings | Chennai Super Kings, Anand Jain & Ross Perot Jr |
| Seattle Orcas | GMR Group and Satya Nadela |
| San Francisco Unicorns | Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan |
| Washington Freedom | Sanjay Govil |
The American Cricket Enterprise has selected 6 cities to be named as teams in the brand-new season of Major League Cricket
Read about Most Runs in Major league Cricket here.
Also learn about Most Wickets in Major League Cricket in this article.
Senior Cricket Content Editor at Skyblogs Cricket.
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