Eleven domestic cricketers in India, including Smit Patel, ex-India under-19 player, Milind Kumar, former Delhi batsman, and Siddharth Trivedi, ex-Gujarat pacer, have been enrolled in the roster for Minor League Cricket T20 (MLC), a 27 city-based franchise league in the USA.
Organised by American Cricket Enterprise, the six-week tournament will commence on July 31 and will be played on weekends. It has drawn in more than 80 first-class cricketers across the world.
The Cricbuzz report indicates that Corey Anderson, former New Zealand all-rounder, will represent his home franchise Dallas, whilst South African spinner Dane Piedt will be representing DC Hawks. These apart, Rahkeem Cornwall, a West Indian spinner, will represent Atlanta Fire, and Sami Aslam along with Hammad Azam, former Pakistani players, will be turning out for Golden State Grizzlies.
The report also points out that 11 players with ‘Indian domestic experience’ were drafted into the squads.
Although the wicketkeeper-batsman Patel had already opted out from tournaments organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and secured a contract with Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League, he is expected to join in the United States of America with Trivedi and Kumar, who has represented Delhi and Sikkim in the Ranji Trophy.
While Kumar is already in the US, his father said that his son has played cricket in the United States and knows people from the cricket fraternity. However, he has no clue about his son signing such a contract.
There has been anticipation around another former Indian under-19 spinner Harmeet Singh joining the Minor League Cricket T20. However, Singh hasn’t confirmed it yet.
