T20 Leagues have taken the world by storm, and every cricketing nation wants to develop its own T20 league to promote the local talent in their country. On that note, the most powerful country, the United States, has also introduced this game in their country and will host their maiden T20 tournament, to be called Major League Cricket.
This tournament will have a total of six different franchises playing against each other to become the champions. The first edition of the MLC is scheduled to start on July 13 (Thursday). This inaugural edition will have a total of 19 matches, and each team will play five group matches before the playoffs start. The first game will take place between Texas Super Kings and Los Angeles Knight Riders in Dallas. The tournament will take place at two different venues: Church Street Park, Morrisville, and Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas.
Los Angeles Knight Riders: Details and Schedule
All six teams owners are Indian businessmen and groups. Three out of six teams are owned by franchises in the Indian Premier League. One such team to take part in the MLC 2023 is the Los Angeles Knight Riders, who are owned by Knight Riders Group. This team is based on the US cities of Irvine and California and plans to play their home matches at Great Park Cricket Stadium in the future. They will be part of the first ever MLC game to start the inaugural season on July 13. So let’s check out the schedule for this team in the upcoming season.
Date | Match | Venue | Time (IST) |
Jul 13, Thu | Texas Super Kings vs Los Angeles Knight Riders | Grand Prairie Stadium | 6:00 AM (Jul 14) |
Jul 16, Sun | Los Angeles Knight Riders vs MI New York | Grand Prairie Stadium | 6:00 AM (Jul 17) |
Jul 18, Tue | Los Angeles Knight Riders vs San Francisco Unicorns | Grand Prairie Stadium | 6:00 AM (Jul 19) |
Jul 20, Thu | Washington Freedom vs Los Angeles Knight Riders | Church Street Park | 3:00 AM (Jul 21) |
Jul 23, Sun | Los Angeles Knight Riders vs Seattle Orcas | Grand Prairie Stadium | 11:00 PM |
Los Angeles Knight Riders: Squad and Coaching Staff
Having gained huge experience in cricket through the IPL, the franchise has picked up a brilliant set of players for their first season. English opener Jason Roy, who joined KKR as a replacement in IPL 2023, has been picked along with Lockie Ferguson. The top order batting also includes the likes of Rilee Rossouw and Martin Guptill, which makes for a strong batting top order. India’s U19 World Cup-winning captain, Unmukt Chand, is also part of the team.
However, the franchise hasn’t revealed the name of the captain of the team. But it looks like they will appoint someone from their veteran KKR players, like Andre Russell or Sunil Narine, who are also part of this team. These two players also play for other KKR franchises, the Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL and the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the ILT20. Another notable name in the team is Australia’s spinner Adam Zampa. The franchise hasn’t announced its coaching staff.
Squad: Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Jason Roy, Martin Guptill, Rilee Rossouw, Adam Zampa, Jaskaran Malhotra, Unmukt Chand, Corne Dry, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Kumar, Saif Badar, Ali Sheikh, Bhaskar Yadram, Ali Khan
Major League Cricket other team squads
1 | MI New York |
2 | Seattle Orcas |
3 | Washington Freedom |
4 | Texas Super Kings |
5 | San Francisco Unicorns |
6 | Los Angeles Knight Riders |