A mix of Pakistan cricket’s cream and some familiar expats will be in action in the United States when the inaugural season of the Major League Cricket (MLC) — a long-awaited T20 tournament — kicks off on Friday (July 14).
Fast bowler Haris Rauf and all-rounders Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim are some of the big names from Pakistan who will participate in the first-of-its kind event being jointly hosted in Texas and North Carolina.
Haris and Shadab, the two centrally contracted players, will represent San Francisco Unicorns, while Imad will be playing for Seattle Orcas.
Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, Texas Super Kings, and Washington Freedom are the four other teams participating in the league. The 19-day competition will go on from July 13 to July 30 at Grand Prairie Stadium and Church Street Park.
The announcements came in earlier this month as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) granted no-objection certificates (NOCs) to the players after getting approval from the team management, medical panel, and the selection committee.
There were reports suggesting that the PCB demanded $25,000 per player to grant the NOCs.
Several international players, who left Pakistan for greener pastures of the US, will also be seen in action, including Hammad Azam, Sami Aslam, Ehsan Adil, Saif Badar, Saad Ali, and Mukhtar Ahmed. They will be participating in MLC as local players.
Azam and Adil will be representing the New York franchise owned by the Mumbai Indians of the Indian Premier League. While they left the country almost two-and-a-half years ago, the duo officially announced their retirement from Pakistan cricket only last week, as per a press release from PCB on Sunday.
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