Franchise cricket will hit the shores of America when the Major League Cricket (MLC) commences in the country on Friday, July 14. With yet another T20 tournament kicking off, we take a look at the major questions regarding the MLC, such as the format, fixtures, teams and more!
How many teams will the MLC have?
The MLC is set to have six teams — Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings and Washington Freedom.
As one can assume, Four of the six teams are owned by Indian Premier League franchise owners. They have taken a keen interest in the league as well. These are the Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals.
While the names reveal their respective owners, the GMR Group, who co-own Delhi Capitals, have a stake in the Seattle Orcas. The other two teams — Washington Freedom and San Francisco Unicorns — are owned by Indian-American entrepreneur Sanjay Govil and a consortium of Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan respectively.
What will the format of the MLC be like?
The tournament will have 19 games with the first game on July 13 (July 14 in India, at 6 am IST) and the final on July 30 (July 31 in India, at 6 am IST). The league stage will have 15 group-stage games followed by an eliminator, two qualifiers and the final, like the IPL. However, unlike the IPL, each team will face each other only once in the league phase.
The schedule for the MLC can be found here.
Where will the matches be played?
Two venues will host the MLC this season. The first eight league games will be held at Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas before the teams move to Church Street Park Stadium in Morrisville for the next seven games. The playoffs will be held at Grand Prairie as well.
Where can fans catch the broadcast, live telecast and live coverage of the MLC?
All matches of the MLC will be broadcast on Sports18 and live telecast on Jio. Fans can also catch the live coverage of the tournament on the Sports Tak application and website.
