Travis Head, David Miller, and Pat Cummins Released from Major League Cricket Season 3 Draft Selections
Major League Cricket (MLC) Franchises Retain Players for the 2025 Season
As the third season of Major League Cricket (MLC) approaches, franchises have announced their retained players ahead of the upcoming draft on February 19. The retention decisions have seen some star players being let go, including notable names like Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, and David Miller.
Washington Freedom, the defending champions, made headlines by retaining 15 players, the most by any team. However, they decided to release Travis Head, their joint-highest run-getter alongside captain Steve Smith in the previous season. The franchise also parted ways with bowlers Akeal Hosein and Andrew Tye, who contributed with two and five wickets respectively last season.
San Francisco Unicorns, the runners-up of the 2024 season, retained key players like explosive openers Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk. Despite this, they released Pat Cummins, Matt Henry, and Josh Inglis, who had significant contributions in the last season.
Seattle Orcas opted to retain just seven players, including overseas stars Heinrich Klaasen and Ryan Rickelton. Despite Klaasen’s poor form in the previous season, the team decided to keep him. However, they released big names like Quinton de Kock, Michael Bracewell, Obed McCoy, and Nandre Burger.
LA Knight Riders retained three overseas stars – Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Spencer Johnson, while releasing David Miller, Jason Roy, Shakib Al Hasan, and Adam Zampa. MI New York, the inaugural champions, retained the likes of Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult, Nicholas Pooran, and Rashid Khan, but released several players including Kagiso Rabada and Tim David.
Texas Super Kings (TSK) retained captain Faf du Plessis, Devon Conway, Marcus Stoinis, and Noor Ahmad, while releasing Mitchell Santner, Matheesha Pathirana, Daryl Mitchell, and Naveen-ul-Haq. Additionally, several notable domestic U.S. players like Steven Taylor, Shehan Jayasuriya, and Jasdeep Singh were not retained by their respective franchises.
Retained Players List for MLC 2025:
LA Knight Riders: Ali Khan, Adithya Ganesh, Unmukt Chand, Nitish Kumar, Corne Dry, Saif Badar, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Matthew Tromp, Spencer Johnson, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine.
MI New York: Ehsan Adil, Nosthush Kenjige, Monank Patel, Heath Richards, Rushil Ugarkar, Sunny Patel, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Rashid Khan, Trent Boult.
San Francisco Unicorns: Corey Anderson, Hassan Khan, Liam Plunkett, Carmi Le Roux, Brody Couch, Karima Gore, Juanoy Drysdale, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Haris Rauf, Finn Allen, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matthew Short.
Seattle Orcas: Harmeet Singh, Cameron Gannon, Ali Sheikh, Ayan Desai, Aaron Jones, Heinrich Klaasen, Ryan Rickelton.
Texas Super Kings: Joshua Tromp, Calvin Savage, Milind Kumar, Mohammad Mohsin, Zia-ul-Haq, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Faf du Plessis, Devon Conway, Noor Ahmad, Marcus Stoinis.
Washington Freedom: Andries Gous, Mukhtar Ahmed, Obus Pienaar, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ian Holland, Amila Aponso, Justin Dill, Lahiru Milantha, Yasir Mohammad, Marco Jansen, Glenn Maxwell, Lockie Ferguson, Rachin Ravindra, Steven Smith, Jack Edwards.
In conclusion, the retained players for the upcoming MLC season showcase the teams’ strategies and priorities as they gear up for another exciting season of cricket.