Hello Friends,
How many of you have been following the new baby in the world of T20 franchise leagues, Major League Cricket (MLC) back in the USA? I could not follow it last year when it was launched but did follow this year due to the sheer buzz it's creating not only in the USA but across the globe. Major reason for its increasing popularity being its origin country which is not popular for cricket and the pool of local talent despite the lack of real infrastructure in the country to grow cricket. Another reason why it is catching eyeballs is the involvement of three most successful IPL franchises who are the owners of the teams in this league too. MI, CSK & KKRs involvement keeps the doors open for other IPL franchises too joining the race in future. Even the co-owners of IPL team Delhi Capitals GMR group is also the co-owner of MLC team Seattle Orcas. The league has all the ingredients including blend of local & foreign talent, tactful coaching staff, packed stadiums, entertaining cricket to be one of the sought after T20 leagues in the coming days.
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| Image Design: Bala Kumar Image credit: wikipedia.com, freepik.com |
Well Planned Launch Pad For The USA Cricket
This tournament is a result of long term planning by the USA cricket authorities. Planning for a premier T20 league in the country started even before the Covid pandemic surfaced in terms of investment, infrastructure & several other arrangements. Great to see prominent corporates like Cognizant & corporate figures like Satya Nadella getting involved with the league at its initial phase. The league getting its official T20 status this year by ICC is another encouraging factor for the players as well as the investors. Organizers already thinking about taking it to a competition with 10 teams where it can compete with leagues like IPL, BBL or T20 Blast(England) shows the faith that the stakeholders have on the league.
But going forward it will be really important for the decision makers to ensure that on their quest for making the league profitable or attractive to the investors they should not compromise on the quality. This should truly be the launch pad from where the USA cricket can really fly high. That's why nurturing the local talent & giving them a long run should be the mantra just like IPL.
Performance Galore In The States
As far as individual or team performances are concerned this season went one step ahead of the last one. This season saw lot many batting friendly pitches giving the crowd a reason to come to the ground. Talking about team performances last year's champions MI New York & runners-up Seattle Orcas both had an underwhelming season. Though New York based franchise reached the knockout stage but they never looked like defending champions throughout the season. Same can be said about Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan owned Los Angeles Knight Riders too who could not make a mark in the competition in both the seasons so far. Texas Super Kings would have loved go one step ahead of their last year's 3rd position finish but it wasn't meant to be as they eventually ended up at the same position this year too.
Top two teams of the season fought it out in the finale for the ultimate reward. If Washington Freedom continued their dream run throughout the season to end up as the champions their counterparts San Francisco Unicorns rather ended a brilliant season after a disappointing performance in the final.
Talking about the individual performances the local players showed the promise at par with their foreign counterparts. Veteran Faf du Plessis ended up as the leading run scorer of the season whereas local boy Saurabh Netravalkar became the top wicket taker. Aussie lad Travis Head continued his extraordinary white ball form with a memorable season which saw him being rewarded as the Most Valuable Player( MVP) of the season. He played an important role in his team's (Washington Freedom) victorious campaign. This season also witnessed redemption of Steven Smith, the T20 batter who was brilliant both as an opener & captain.
Local Being Vocal
For this league to be the ideal platform for the growth of the USA cricket it is important that the local players utilize this opportunity to showcase their talent to the world. Sharing the dressing room with world class players who have proved their mettle at the international as well as franchise cricket is a golden opportunity that the players seem to have grabbed with both hands. Guys like Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Ian Holland, Monank Patel, Jasdeep Singh, Saurabh Netravalkar, Nosthush Kenjige, Milind Kumar, Aaron Jones have impressed one & all with their gutsy performances. Not to forget players like Corey Anderson, Mukhtar Ahmed, Andries Gous have represented their respective home nations in past & now are US citizens. So they come up with lot of T20 cricket experience which is valuable for the young lads.
Getting the mentoring from world class coaches like Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming, Shane Watson, Phil Simmons would have done wonders to players' confidence too. Now it's upto the players on how they utilize this experience in the coming days.
Smudge 2.0
If one player who caught attention this season was definitely Australian great Steve Smith. Not known for his batting heroics in the shortest format of the game he utilized this opportunity to show the world that he has still got it even in this format. His performance both as a batter & captain was a big statement after his snub from the national T20 world cup team.
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| Smith in a test match for Australia Image credit: SirWellsy99, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
In a way he would have surprised himself too this series with the consistency & intent he has shown at the top of the order. His partnership with the fellow Aussie batter Travis Head was the talk of the town & they laid a solid platform for the rest of their batters throughout the tournament. Not to forget Smith's match winning knock in the big final too after early departure of Head. He batted with ease throughout the season playing conventional as well as unorthodox T20 shots at times. It was a treat to watch him bat with the same flare that gets associated with him majorly in test cricket.
There was never a doubt about his leadership skills. During his tenure as the Australian captain he had impressed everybody. Even now in absence of regular captain Pat Cummins he often acts as the stand in captain and does a fantastic job. But this was a breakthrough performance as leader in the world of slambang cricket. He was equally impressive during a small tenure as captain for the IPL team Rajasthan Royals in past. But this performance in MLC will definitely provide him a good bargain going forward.
His impressive bowling changes, field placements, tactical decisions & man management created a rather smooth path for his team all the way to the ultimate crown. Also lot of credit to be given to their head coach another Australian great Ricky Ponting who was one of the chief architects of this victory & let Smith be himself. The Australian camaraderie was clearly visible in their playing style. They lost just one game in the season. Sometimes a setback for a premier player like Smith can actually turn the tide in favor too. Not surprisingly seems like his omission from the Aussie T20 set up has spurred him on to prove that he can be equally good in this format too. Leadership actually works like a blessing in disguise for him as his batting gets better with that additional responsibility of captaincy.
That's all from this season. Looking forward to the next season. Stay tuned for more at this space.
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