Major League Cricket (MLC) is all set to kick off on Thursday with Texas Super Kings taking on Los Angeles Knight Riders in the inaugural game at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. The six teams are owned mainly by Indian Americans who are venture capitalists, in the start-up and IT sector.
The crisp tournament goes on for 17 days till July 31 with 19 games across two venues in Dallas and Church Street Park in Morrisville. The competition initially was set to be played in 2021, however, due to COVID-19 Pandemic the tournament had been postponed to 2023.
The league is filled with some of the star names of international cricket with the likes of Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, former South Africa skipper Faf Du Plessis, England star opener Jason Roy and New Zealand seamer Trent Boult.
Each team can have a minimum of 16 members in the squad and a maximum of 19. And franchises can have nine foreigners in their squad. Each franchise should also have one U-23 player in their squad which would help in the development of young American cricketers. Franchises can field upto six foreign players in their playing XIs
Here is all you need to know about franchises.
Los Angeles Knight Riders
Owners: Knight Riders Group.
Coach: Phil Simmons
Captain: Sunil Narine
Squad: Unmukt Chand, Jason Roy, Rilee Rossouw, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Jaskaran Malhotra(w), Gajanand Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Adam Zampa, Lockie Ferguson, Ali Khan, Martin Guptill, Nitish Kumar, Corne Dry, Saif Badar, Spencer Johnson, Bhaskar Yadram, Ali Sheikh
MI New York
Owners: The franchise is owned by Indiwin Sports which also owns Mumbai Indians (IPL), Mumbai Indians (WPL), MI Cape Town (SA20) and MI Emirates (ILT20).
Coach: Robin Peterson
Captain: Kieron Pollard
Squad: Ehsan Adil, Hammad Azam, Saideep Ganesh, Shayan Jahangir, Nothush Kenjige, Sarbjeet Ladda, Monank Patel, Kyle Phillip, Steven Taylor, Jason Behrendorff, Trent Boult, Dewald Brevis, Tim David, Rashid Khan, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Kagiso Rabada, David Wiese.
San Francisco Unicorns
Owners: Venture Capitalists Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinaryan, co-founders of Cambrian Ventures, who also brought Australian state Victoria on board.
Captain: Aaron Finch
Coach: Shane Watson
Squad: Aaron Finch, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Marcus Stoinis, Smit Patel, Lungi Ndigi, Corey Anderson, David White, Liam Plunkett, Tajinder Singh Carmi Le Roux, Brody Couch, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Amila Aponso.
Seattle Orcas
Owners: owned by an investor group including Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella, Soma Somasegar, Samir Bodas, Ashok Krishnamurthi, and Sanjay Parthasarathy – and the GMR Group.
Captain: Wayne Parnell
Coach: Pravin Amre
Squad: Quinton de Kock, Wayne Parnell, Shubham Ranjane, Aaron Jones, Dasun Shanaka, Angelo Perera, Matthew Tromp, Harmeet Singh, Shehan Jayasuriya, Cameron Gannon, Nauman Anwar, Phani Simhadri, Nisarg Patel.
Texas Super Kings
Owners: co-owned by the Chennai Super Kings, Ross Perot Jr., and Anurag Jain
Coach: Stephen Fleming
Captain: Faf du Plessis
Squad: Faf Du Plessis (C), Devon Conway, Lahiru Milantha, Milind Kumar, Sami Aslam, Cameron Stevenson, Mitchell Santner, Daniel Sams, Gerald Coetzee, Dwayne Bravo, Rusty Theron, David Miller, Calvin Savage, Cody Chetty, Zia Shahzad, Md Mohsin, Saiteja Mukkamalla.
Washington Freedom
Owner: Indian American entrepreneur Sanjay Govil along with South Wales state cricket from Australia.
Captain: Moises Henriques
Coach: Greg Shipperd
Squad: Glenn Phillips, Adam Milne, Moises Henriques, Josh Philippe, Anrich Nortje, Tanveer Sangha, Marco Jansen, Andries Gous, Mukhtar Ahmed, Obus Pienaar, Saurabh Netravalkar, Saad Ali, Dane Piedt, Sujith Gowda, Justin Dill, Akhilesh Bodugum, Ben Dwarshuis, Usman Rafiq.
Format
All six teams will play each other once in a round-robin format to qualify for the playoffs which include Eliminator, Qualifier, Challenger and Final.
Where to watch Major League Cricket in India
How to Watch Major League Cricket Live on TV in India?
All Major League Cricket matches will be broadcast live on the Sports18 TV channel in India.
How to Watch Major League Cricket Live Online in India?
Live streaming of the Major League Cricket matches will be available on the JioCinema for free.
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