The United States witnessed history in making when an inaugural match was held on Thursday, 13th July. Although the US has a cricket national team, however it is yet to gain momentum and confidence from most Americans.
The idea evolved by a group of entrepreneurs and cricket enthusiasts, then the format was agreed that is similar to the IPL held each year in India.
A total of six teams are playing in the MLC for 2023:
Texas Super Kings
Los Angeles Knight Riders
MI New York
Seattle Orcas
San Francisco Unicorns
Washington Freedom
What makes the MLC more interesting is the owners of each team. Texas Super Kings are co-owned by Chennai Super Kings owners, while LA Knight Riders are co-owned by Bollywood actors Juhi Chawla, Shahrukh Khan and the MI New York co-owned by the Reliance group. Satya Nadella co-owns the Seattle Orcas.
The inaugural game between Texas Super Kings and LA Knight Riders witnessed over 7500 attendees thronging towards the venue in Dallas, TX. Some of the players who played at the inaugural match included Faf Du Plessis, Devon Conway, Mitchell Santner, David Miller, Dwayne Bravo et al, while LA Knight Riders had Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Jason Roy (not present for the inaugural game), Lockie Ferguson, Adam Zampa among others.
The game turned really interesting with the home crowd cheering for Texas Super Kings who eventually won the game. Many first timers turned up to understand the game and felt it was worth coming down to the stadium.
The first season will be played for 17 days, where the initial two rounds will be played in Dallas, TX and Morisville, NC. The teams come back to Dallas, TX and lock each other in the eliminators, play-offs and the final that will be played on Sunday, July 30th.
The audience felt extremely with the preparations made by City of Grand Prairie who own the ground and reminisced good old days. They opined that they have their version of IPL happening in the US and thanked MLC.
Aditya - Dallas, TX
