- First portion of Minor League Cricket Draft completed on Saturday, August 22nd, with New England Eagles & DC Hawks announcing finalized squads
- 17 of the Minor League Cricket teams have now completed their draft selections in full and confirmed their 18-man squads
- Remaining teams to complete their regional drafts in the coming weeks
With the first ever Minor League Cricket Draft successfully completed last week and two additional franchise squad selections announced – the DC Hawks and New England Eagles – who completed their player selections for their own regions, 17 of the 24 teams are now confirmed for the inaugural season of Minor League Cricket (MiLC).
More than 2,400 players registered for the draft through the Player Registration process, of which 306 were selected as part of the 17 MiLC teams that finalized their squads for the first time. All Minor League Cricket franchise teams included one wildcard professional player, two domestic professional players and a minimum of three Under-21 players in their squads. The inaugural season of Minor League Cricket will commence next year in Spring 2021, with plans for Franchise Exhibition matches in September and October 2020 located in jurisdictions where recreational sports have been deemed safe.
Several Team USA stars were among those who have been drafted including Team USA Captain, Saurabh Netravalkar, who will line up for the Golden State Grizzlies. He will face off against teammates, Monank Patel, Elmore Hutchinson and Timil Patel, who will play for the Hollywood Master Blasters in the Western Conference. Over on the east coast, Aaron Jones, Xavier Marshall and Akshay Homraj were all signed by the New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers, while the quick bowler, Ali Khan, who is currently playing for the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League, is a stand-out signing for the Houston Hurricanes in the Central Conference. Steven Taylor will head south to play for the Atlanta Param Veers in the Southern Conference.
Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan of Minor League Cricket were delighted with the success of the draft, “We would like to congratulate all players drafted, as well as the 17 teams that have now completed their squad selections. In spite of the significant challenges that 2020 has presented to teams, we are very pleased with the outcome of the inaugural Minor League Cricket Draft. It represents a significant achievement that the majority of our franchises now have full squads selected, and we will continue to work with our teams and the relevant regional authorities to determine when Exhibition Matches will be possible during 2020.”
“We would also like to thank everyone in the American cricket community for their interest and support in establishing Minor League Cricket. The strong amount of interest from both the Northwest region around Seattle and New York has meant that we are actively looking at options to accommodate an additional franchise in each of these regions ahead of the inaugural season next year, and others may eventuate to meet demand.”
The Chicago Blasters and Chicago Catchers from the Central Conference will draft their squads in a regional draft to be held on September 10th, while the Michigan Cricket Stars will select a team of registered players from within their selection zone. This regional draft will be covered on USA Cricket’s social media channels.
The remaining three Florida-based franchises currently await a regional draft date, which is yet to be confirmed. The owners of the Florida franchises met with Minor League Cricket last week and continue to stay in close contact to finalize a potential draft date and schedule. Given the fluidity of the COVID-19 situation across the country, Minor League Cricket is taking a pragmatic approach and actively working with owners to ensure a fair process for all 24 teams.
“USA Cricket is delighted with the progress that has been made with Minor League Cricket in these challenging times over the recent months.” said USA Cricket Board Member and Chair of the ACE Relations Committee, Suraj Viswanathan. “In particular, we want to acknowledge the successful delivery of the inaugural Minor League Cricket Draft and congratulate all players who were selected in what is a real landmark development for the sport.
“USA Cricket is committed to developing Minor League Cricket in close partnership with American Cricket Enterprises. This tournament will become a critical component of the player development pathway that ultimately leads to the USA T20 national team and squad selection, with player performance in Minor League Cricket to be closely monitored by the Men’s National Selection Panel.”
“But it isn’t just about developing a clear player pathway. Over recent months and through a robust and objective process, a diverse group of passionate owners has been identified and engaged, all of whom have bought into the bigger vision for the sport in this country. To that end, owners have signed up to obligations to contribute to the growth of the cricketing ecosystem in their respective communities through which we will create a lasting legacy for cricket in their regions and across America.”
The confirmed squads in full are as follows;
Eastern Conference
DC Hawks: Abdul Jabbar, Abdullah Ghazi, Adil Bhatti, Christopher Vantull, Franklin Clement, Gourav Bajaj, Ishan Sharma, Naseer Islam, Navin Stewart, Rashesh Behera, Ritwik Behera, Sahil Kapoor, Shehan Perrera, Sunny Sohal, Tallal Zia, Waleed Karimullah, Waqar Ahmad, Waqas Basra.
Empire State Titans: Amanpreet Singh, Avin Gangadin, Barrington Bartley, Bilal Ahmad, Damion Jacobs, Derone Davis, Gajanand Singh, Jaladh Dua, Muhammad Ibrahim, Rabbi Chodhuary, Rizwan Mazhar, Shashank Krishnamurthy, Trevon Griffith, Trinson Carmichael, Umer Farooq, Waseem Shazehd, Zahib Tariq, Zeeshan Ahmed.
New England Eagles: Alexandrino Kirton, Amarnath Raavi, Asaad Fudadin, Bruce Blackwood, Ravi Singh, Emanuel Seecharran, Fazal Alam, Karthikeya Jagadish, Muhammad Ibrahim, Nikel Hay, Oneil Powell, Pratik Dudhane, Raghavendra Kulaspur, Raghunandan Sridhar, Sahil` Koul, Umair Mir, Zeshan Muhammad, Ziqa Ullah.
New Jersey Stallions: Akeem Dodson, Anish Patel, Anvesh Buddineni, Dominique Rikhi, Hiren Patel, Jishnav Kohli, Malay Singh, Neive McNally, Nikhil Dutta, Oraine Williams, Raj Bhavsar, Raymond Ramrattan, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Salik Iqbal, Savan Patel, Umair Ali, Vivek Ravichandran, Yasith Perera.
New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers Cricket Club: Aaron Jones, Adeel Ahmad, Aditya Sharma, Akshay Homraj, Aman Patel, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Derick Narine, Jasdeep Singh, Juanoy Drysdale, Keifer Phill, Kennar Lewis, Muhammad Asad Ghous, Murad Niazi, Shawn Findlay, Syed Abdullah, Usman Ashraf, Xavier Marshall, Yasir Mohammad.
The Philadelphians: Abhayjit Khangura, Chiru Bhatia, Gaurav Rana, Iknoor Singh, Jaymin Goswami, Karima Gore, Kunal Baride, Manoj Acharya, Marco Granston, Mayurnath Sankar Rao, Muhammad Shah, Nil Patel, Nitish Mahesh, Pranav Rao, Quasen Alfred, Rimal Patel, Vivek Narayan, Yashwant Balaji.
Central Conference
Austin Athletics: Ahmed Butt, Ahmed Fazal, Ali Samad, Alish Dogra, Awais Mubarak, Dylan Joseph, Jagrit Raj, Jay Pathak, Majjid Zubair, Niket Kumar, Prajith Mudi, Rizwan Rajani, Saad Humayun, Sidhesh Pathare, Sri Pare, Sumeet Khule, Vijayaballaji Vijayakumar, Willem Ludick.
Houston Hurricanes: Adnan Haroon, Ahan Bhakre, Ali Khan, Ammar Siddiqui, Hamza Khalid, Hamza Bangash, Hassan Rashid, Karan Narang, Naseer Jamali, Rana Ali, Saad Zafar, Safiullah Faheem, Saqlain Haider, Shams Arefeen, Shayan Jahangir, Shuja Naqvi, Usman Rafiq, Waleed Ahmed.
Irving Mustangs: Abhiram Valisammagari, Ahad Khan, Ali Sheikh, Ashadullah Khan, Himanshu Sharma, Junaid Nadir, Kaleem Sana, Karthik Gattepalli, Ninad Pradeep Nimbalkar, Nosthush Kenjige, Orlando Baker, Petson Mathews, Rehman Dar, Soorya Selvakumar, Sujith Gowda, Sushant Modani, Syed Adeel, Syed Najaf Shah.
Southern Conference
Atlanta Fire: Ahsan Plummer, Akhilesh Bodugum, Amit Koul, Amit Sood, Amrut Pore, Azeem Charania, Camilus Alexander, Dean Morgan, Jaydeep Desai, Kishan Das, Pranavh Pradeep, Ridwan Palash, Rishi Bhardwaj, Sagar Patel, Sahil Charania, Salman Safi, Vinothkumar Kandaswamy, Zain Syed
Atlanta Param Veers: Bhavin Patel, Darpankumar Patel, Evroy Dyer, Garth Garvey, Gurpreet Shane Raina, Heer Patel, Ishmael Parchment, Jagroop Raina, Jamel Morgan, Mark Parchment, Param Patel, Ragib Chowdhury, Sanjeev Saini, Santosh Reddy, Shaquille Forbes, Sreenath Kolachur, Steven Taylor, Viraj Vaghela.
Western Conference
East Bay Blazers: Aarnav Iyer, Dev Thadhani, Josh Dascombe, Mansingh Nigade, Mohammadesa Kunarai, Nick McLachlan, Rohit Ramkumar, Ruchir Joshi, Rusty Theron, Sai Anurag Kara, Saideep Ganesh, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Shamith Pasula, Shiva Vashishat, Shivam Mishra, Skanda Rohit Sharma, Vinay Baid, Zaki Sultani.
Golden State Grizzlies: Amritpal Singh, Arya Venkatesh, Asad Khan, Barpreet Singh Bhavesh Jain, Malik Junaid, Mohit Natraj, Neeraj Goel, Nihal Desai, Ramandeep Singh, Rudolph Hinds, Saad Khan, Saqib Saleem, Saurabh Netravalkar, Sohan Bhat, Srinidhi Raghavendran, Srinivasan Mohan, Vibhav Altekar.
Hollywood Master Blasters: Ali Shafi, Amitoze Singh, Elmore Hutchinson, Harpreet Bhullar, Iddagodage Daluwatte, Iftekhar Ahmed, Janak Patel, Jay Jeble, Jignesh Patel Karan Viradiya, Khalid Zadran, Mehul Dave, Monank Patel, Nisarg Patel, Pukar Patel, Sakthi Karimanal, Timil Patel, Trishul Manoj.
San Diego Surf Riders: Abhinay Vanipally, Ajay Sharma, Aman Lobana, Christopher Lane, David Pieters, Gaurav Chintamneedi, Hikmatyar Marofkhel, Jaideep Reddy, Mandar Manjarekar, Marty Kain, Mrunal Patel, Muhammad Sadiq, Raj Vyas, Rajveer Khosa, Ravi Timbawala, Sahaj Patel, Siddarth Matani, Smitesh Modak.
Silicon Valley Strikers: Abbas Jafri, Adnesh Tondale, Anshul Pratap Singh, Arjun Thyagarajan, Dhiraj Swarnkar, Dilpreet Billing, Gary Graham, Krithik Udayashankar, Narsingh Deonarine, Natwar Agrawal, Mohammad Nawaz Katawazai, Pranay Suri, Rahul Jariwala, Rahul Ashwini, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Sheryar Khan, SriniRaghavan, Vatsal Vaghela.
SoCal Lashings: Aakashveer Saini, Abhimanyu Rajp, Ahmed Razi, Ammar Siddiqui, Deepak Gosain, Evin Hewageegana, Faizan Siddiqi, Gayan Fernando, Hammad Shahid, Harman Sandhir, Harpreet Singh, Kanishka Chaugai, Muhammad Zaid, Peter Vittachi, Sirajul Ahmed, Sukhwant Sekhon, Vedant Jain, Venukalyan Madireddy.
More details on Minor League Cricket can be found here: https://www.majorleaguecricket.com/minorleaguecricket.
