Travis Head, Kagiso Rabada and David Miller not retained ahead of MLC 2025

The six Major League Cricket franchises have named their retentions ahead of the draft for the upcoming season on February 19. Coming to the top two teams from last year, defending champions Washington Freedom retained 15 players, which makes them the team with the most number of retained players. While doing so, they have shockingly let go of their joint-highest scorer from last year, Travis Head and their captain, Steven Smith. 

They have retained two overseas players in the form of Akeal Hosein and Andrew Tye. Speaking of the runners-up from last season, San Francisco Unicorns have not retained Pat Cummins, Matt Henry and Josh Inglis. But, they have managed to retain the fiery opening pair of Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk. On the other hand, the least number of retentions came at the end of Seattle Orcas. 

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Orcas have retained just two overseas players in the form of Heinrich Klaasen and Ryan Rickelton. They have retained just seven players and released as many overseas players as Quinton de Kock, Michael Bracewell, Obed McCoy and Nandre Burger. Along with Head and Cummins, other notable players who have missed the draft are Kagiso Rabada and David Miller. 

List of players retained for MLC 2025

LA Knight Riders:

Ali Khan, Adithya Ganesh, Unmukt Chand, Nitish Kumar, Corne Dry, Saif Badar, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Matthew Tromp, Spencer Johnson, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine.

MI New York:

Ehsan Adil, Nosthush Kenjige, Monank Patel, Heath Richards, Rushil Ugarkar, Sunny Patel, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Rashid Khan, Trent Boult.

San Francisco Unicorns:

Corey Anderson, Hassan Khan, Liam Plunkett, Carmi Le Roux, Brody Couch, Karima Gore, Juanoy Drysdale, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Haris Rauf, Finn Allen, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matthew Short.

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Seattle Orcas:

Harmeet Singh, Cameron Gannon, Ali Sheikh, Ayan Desai, Aaron Jones, Heinrich Klaasen, Ryan Rickelton.

Texas Super Kings:

Joshua Tromp, Calvin Savage, Milind Kumar, Mohammad Mohsin, Zia-ul-Haq, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Faf du Plessis, Devon Conway, Noor Ahmad, Marcus Stoinis.

Washington Freedom:

Andries Gous, Mukhtar Ahmed, Obus Pienaar, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ian Holland, Amila Aponso, Justin Dill, Lahiru Milantha, Yasir Mohammad, Marco Jansen, Glenn Maxwell, Lockie Ferguson, Rachin Ravindra, Steven Smith, Jack Edwards.