Major League Cricket (MLC) franchises have announced their retained players ahead of the third season’s draft, set to take place on February 19. Several star players, including Australia’s Travis Head and Pat Cummins, along with South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada and David Miller, were not retained, ESPNCricinfo reported. Defending champions Washington Freedom retained 15 players, the most by any team, but let go of Head, their joint-highest run-getter alongside captain Steve Smith with 336 runs each. The franchise also let go of bowlers Akeal Hosein and Andrew Tye, who took two and five wickets each last season, as per ESPNCricinfo.
San Francisco Unicorns retained their key players, including explosive openers Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk, but released Cummins (four wickets), Matt Henry, and Josh Inglis (157 runs in nine matches). The Unicorns were runners-up in the 2024 season.
Seattle Orcas retained just seven players, including overseas stars Heinrich Klaasen and Ryan Rickelton. He was retained despite Klaasen’s poor form last season (97 runs in six matches). However, the team released big names like Quinton de Kock (170 runs in seven games), Michael Bracewell, Obed McCoy, and Nandre Burger (four wickets last season).
LA Knight Riders retained three overseas stars–West Indies veterans Sunil Narine (five wickets) and Andre Russell (129 runs, two wickets in six matches), along with Australian pacer Spencer Johnson (nine wickets in six games). Meanwhile, Miller (81 runs in six games), Jason Roy (163 runs in six matches), Shakib Al Hasan (60 runs, one wicket in four games), and Adam Zampa were released.
MI New York, the inaugural champions, retained West Indies legend Kieron Pollard (63 runs, five wickets in five matches), Trent Boult (nine wickets in seven matches), Nicholas Pooran (180 runs in seven matches), and Rashid Khan (162 runs, 10 wickets in seven matches). However, they released Anrich Nortje (one wicket in two matches), Rabada, and power-hitters Tim David (27 runs in three matches) and Dewald Brevis (85 runs in four matches).
Texas Super Kings (TSK) retained captain Faf du Plessis and Devon Conway (420 and 293 runs in eight innings, respectively). They also kept Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis (83 runs, seven wickets in seven matches) and Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad. Among the released players were Mitchell Santner (two wickets in two matches), Matheesha Pathirana, Daryl Mitchell, and Naveen-ul-Haq.
Several notable domestic U.S. players were not retained, including Steven Taylor (MI New York), Shehan Jayasuriya (Seattle Orcas), and Jasdeep Singh (Washington Freedom).
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.
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