Major League Cricket 2025: US T20 League Gears Up for Month-Long Action
With the IPL (Indian Premier League) 2025 fever subsided, new league excitement has taken over the sport of cricket. MLC (Major League Cricket), which is United States’ T20 club league is the latest entrant to the intra-country cricket league tournaments. This exciting league commenced on June 12, 2025, and will conclude on July 14, after a month-long schedule of league stage and qualifier matches.
The MLC, as its popularly known world-over for the cricket fans, features six teams captained by six distinguished players, who will compete against each other to clinch the glittering trophy and titular victory. The season opener will take place at the Oakland Coliseum, which will host a match in the tournament for the first time in history; between San Fransico Unicorns and defending champions Washington Freedom. Some of the biggest names in world cricket such as Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Heinrich Klaasen, David Warner, and Faf du Plessis will play the tournament.
This high-profile tournament is administered by American Cricket Enterprises and USA Cricket board while enjoying an official T20 (List A) status from the ICC (International Cricket Council), making all performances an integral part of players’ official records. This unique tournament aims to popularize cricket as a sport in the US region too, a country that is not relatively popular as a cricket-playing nation, especially ever-since cricket makes a comeback after 128 years in the forthcoming Olympics, set to be held in Los Angeles in 2028. Four of the six MLC franchises have ownership ties linked to Indian Premier League (IPL) teams. These include MI New York (Mumbai Indians), Texas Super Kings (Chennai Super Kings), LA Knight Riders (Kolkata Knight Riders), and Seattle Orcas (Delhi Capitals).
The MLC features six formidable teams, spearheaded by six equally skilled and gifted athletes. Let us have a look at all the 6 franchises and their talented skippers who will lead their respective squad members towards victory.
| Team | Captain |
| Los Angeles Knight Riders | Jason Holder |
| San Francisco Unicorns | Corey Anderson |
| Texas Super Kings | Faf du Plessis |
| Mumbai Indians New York | Nicholas Pooran |
| Washington Freedom | Glenn Maxwell |
| Seattle Orcas | Heinrich Klaasen |
Playoff Qualification
For those unversed, all teams will play each other twice (round-robin format) and hence play 10 matches in the league stage. The top four teams will qualify for the playoffs. The top two teams will play the first qualifier, while the third and fourth team will play the eliminator.
Players’ Squad of All Teams
LA Knight Riders: Jason Holder (c), Adithya Ganesh, Ali Khan, Alex Hales, Andre Fletcher, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Corne Dry, Karthik Gattepalli, Matthew Tromp, Nitish Kumar, Rovman Powell, Saif Badar, Sherfane Rutherford, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Sunil Narine, Tanveer Sangha, Unmukt Chand.
MI New York: Nicholas Pooran (c), Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult, Monank Patel, Nosthush Kenjige, Heath Richards, Ehsan Adil, Sunny Patel, Rushil Ugarkar, George Linde, Quinton de Kock, Michael Bracewell, Naveen-ul-Haq, Kunwarjeet Singh, Sharad Lumba, Agni Chopra, Tajinder Singh.
San Francisco Unicorns: Corey Anderson (c), Finn Allen, Matthew Short, Juanoy Drysdale, Romario Shepherd, Xavier Bartlett, Haris Rauf, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Tim Seifert, Callum Stow, Liam Plunkett, Brody Couch, Carmi le Roux, Hassan Khan, Cooper Connolly, Karima Gore, Hammad Azam, Achilles Browne.
Seattle Orcas: Heinrich Klaasen (c), David Warner, Aaron Jones, Steven Taylor, Shimron Hetmyer, Rahul Jariwala, Shayan Jahangir, Sikandar Raza, Gulbadin Naib, Ali Sheikh, Kyle Mayers, Sujit Nayak, Harmeet Singh, Cameron Gannon, Jasdeep Singh, Obed McCoy, Waqar Salamkheil, Fazahaq Farooqi, Ayan Desai.
Texas Super Kings: Faf du Plessis (c), Devon Conway, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Smit Patel, Donovan Ferreira, Milind Kumar, Daryl Mitchell, Mohammad Mohsin, Shubham Ranjane, Joshua Tromp, Mitchell Marsh, Nandre Burger, Akeal Hosein, Adam Milne, Noor Ahmad, Calvin Savage, Zia-ul-Haq.
Washington Freedom: Glenn Maxwell (c), Mukhtar Ahmed, Steven Smith, Mark Chapman, Saurabh Netravalkar, Amila Aponso, Abhishek Paradkar, Yasir Mohammad, Lockie Ferguson, Jason Behrendorff, Ben Sears, Obus Pienaar, Ian Holland, Justin Dill, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Jack Edwards, Mitch Owen, Andries Gous, Lahiru Milantha
Telecast and Streaming Details
The Star Sports Network will telecast the tournament in India while it will be livestreamed on JioHotstar too. The Indian audience can view the matches from 6:30 AM IST onwards. The qualifier matches will be played from July 9-13, and the final match of MLC, (Major League Cricket) will be held on July 14.
MLC 2025 promises to be a landmark season: bigger in scale, reach and ambition. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, solid broadcast partnerships, record-setting performances and real unfiltered cricket action, MLC presents itself as a future contender to expand in U.S. sports culture and enhance the affinity for cricket in the American region.
FAQs on Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025
1)Where will the MLC 2025 matches be played?
The MLC 2025 matches will be hosted across three primary venues in the United States of America – Oakland Coliseum, Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas and Broward County Stadium in Florida. Grand Prairie Stadium will exclusively host the playoff matches of the tournament.
2) Where can fans watch Major League Cricket 2025 live in India?
For fans in India, live streaming of Major League Cricket 2025 will be available on the JioHotstar app and website.
3) Who won the MLC 2024 title?
Washington Freedom won its maiden MLC title against the San Francisco Unicorns in 2024.
