As the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 draft approaches on February 19, franchises have unveiled their retained player rosters, leading to the release of several high-profile international cricketers. Notably, Australia’s Travis Head and Pat Cummins, along with South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada and David Miller, are among those not retained for the upcoming season.
Many of the international retention decisions are based on national team conflicts, which are numerous this year. In 2024, the MLC took place in July immediately following the Men’s T20 World Cup, and thus faced virtually no international conflicts.
The 2025 edition, anticipated to be from mid-June to mid July conflicts with both the World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa on June 11-15, as well as the Australia tour of the West Indies from June 25-July 28.
While many of the player cuts are due to these scheduling reasons, the changes will still alter the face of the league.
LA Knight Riders have retained three overseas veterans: Sunil Narine, who took five wickets; Andre Russell, who contributed 129 runs and two wickets in six matches; and Australian pacer Spencer Johnson, who claimed nine wickets in six games. Meanwhile, the franchise released South African David Miller, who scored 81 runs in six games, Englishman Jason Roy with 163 runs in six matches, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, who added 60 runs and one wicket in four games, and Australian Adam Zampa.
MI New York, the inaugural champions, have held onto West Indies legend Kieron Pollard, who recorded 63 runs and five wickets in five matches, along with Trent Boult, who took nine wickets in seven matches, Nicholas Pooran with 180 runs in seven matches, and Rashid Khan, who contributed 162 runs and ten wickets in seven matches. However, they have released South Africans Anrich Nortje, who managed one wicket in two matches, and Kagiso Rabada, along with power-hitter Dewald Brevis with 85 runs in four matches. They also cut Australian Tim David.
The San Francisco Unicorns, runners-up in the 2024 season, have chosen to retain key players such as openers Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk. However, they released Pat Cummins, fellow Australian Josh Inglis, who scored 157 runs across nine matches, and NZ star Matt Henry.
The Seattle Orcas retained seven players, including South African stars Ryan Rickelton Heinrich Klaasen, despite Klaasen’s modest tally of 97 runs in six matches last season. Conversely, prominent players like Quinton de Kock, who amassed 170 runs in seven games, Michael Bracewell, Obed McCoy, and Nandre Burger, who secured four wickets last season, have been released.
The Texas Super Kings (TSK) retained captain Faf du Plessis and Devon Conway, who scored 420 and 293 runs in eight innings respectively. They have also kept Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who contributed 83 runs and seven wickets in seven matches, and Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad. Released players include New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner, who took two wickets in two matches, Matheesha Pathirana, Daryl Mitchell, and Afghanistan’s Naveen-ul-Haq.
Defending champions Washington Freedom have opted to retain 15 players, the highest number among all teams. Travis Head was not retained, while 2024 Captain Steve Smith was retained – both were tied the team’s 2024 top run-scorers with 336 runs each. Additionally, bowlers Akeal Hosein and Andrew Tye, who contributed two and five wickets respectively last season, have also been let go.
In addition to international stars, several notable domestic U.S. players have not been retained. These include Steven Taylor from MI New York, Shehan Jayasuriya and Shubham Ranjane from Seattle Orcas, and Jasdeep Singh from Washington Freedom.
While the date for the 2025 MLC draft has not been announced, it is anticipated to be in the coming weeks.
Here is a full list of retentions.
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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Name of Author: Cricexec Staff
