MLC 2024 Domestic Draft Results: Last year, the first MLC Draft was a big event with lots of excitement. It happened at NASA’s place in Houston.
The space travel theme made cricket fans very interested and curious about what a major American cricket league could mean for the sport. Fans watched the 2023 draft live on YouTube, and some people even traveled far to see it in person.
This year, the MLC 2024 Draft happened quietly without much fanfare. There was no live event or celebrity hosts. Instead, Major League Cricket just posted a video recap on their YouTube channel after the draft finished on Tuesday night.
The video hosts Nikhil Uttamchandani and Aman Patel talked about the draft picks, interviewed some drafted players, and announced some big international player signings.
Even though there was less hype and less money spent compared to last year, this year’s draft process is still very interesting. Behind the scenes, team managers used creative strategies to build their teams for the MLC 2024 season. Fans who like analyzing things will enjoy looking at how each team acquired new players through the draft.
The big show may be gone, but the 2024 draft is an important next step for professional cricket in America. As the initial excitement wears off, the hard work of building a successful league continues steadily.
MLC 2024 Domestic Draft
By the end of Thursday night, Major League Cricket announced the names and draft positions of 20 domestic cricketers for the 2024 season. 13 of these players will be joining MLC teams for the first time.
These newly drafted domestic players will join 33 domestic players who were already retained by the 6 MLC teams from last season. This makes a total of 53 domestic players so far, with another draft planned for June 16 to add more players.
Last year’s domestic draft was a simple snake draft. But this year, teams had different amounts of money to spend and different team sizes. This required a completely new draft approach with new rules and challenges.
Instead of rounds, there were 10 different pay levels, decreasing from $75,000 down to $10,000, plus a $5,000 level for players under 23 years old. Teams took turns drafting players at each pay level, as long as they had enough money left in their budget. Teams could also draft two players at the same pay level, but only after other teams had a fair chance.
Texas Super Kings had the biggest budget of $150,000 and only 3 slots to fill. This meant they could get one $75,000 player, one $65,000 player, and have $10,000 left for a final player. Or they could get two $65,000 players and one $20,000 player, depending on who was available.
On the other hand, Seattle Orcas only had $60,000 to spend. They could draft up to 4 players, but couldn’t pick anyone until the $35,000 level at the earliest.
Seattle’s small budget showed they did a good job drafting last year. The team’s owner said most of their domestic players played well in Season One, so they could retain them this year.
The draft order was the reverse of last season’s standings. So LA Knight Riders picked first, followed by teams like SF Unicorns, Washington Freedom, and others.
By the time draft was over, teams had spent a total of $570,000 on new domestic players.
MLC 2024 Domestic Draft Result
The 2024 Cognizant Major League Cricket Domestic Draft finished on March 21st. A total of 20 new players were selected to complete the minimum domestic player requirement for each of the six teams. Here are the draft picks in order of selection:
| Pick | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adithya Ganesh | LA Knight Riders |
| 2 | Hassan Khan | San Francisco Unicorns |
| 3 | Joshua Tromp | Texas Super Kings |
| 4 | Raj Nannan | Texas Super Kings |
| 5 | Ruben Clinton | MI New York |
| 6 | Hammad Azam | Seattle Orcas |
| 7 | Ian Holland | Washington Freedom |
| 8 | Amila Aponso | Washington Freedom |
| 9 | Corné Dry | LA Knight Riders |
| 10 | Heath Richards | MI New York |
| 11 | Tajinder Singh | San Francisco Unicorns |
| 12 | Ali Sheikh | Seattle Orcas |
| 13 | Derone Davis | LA Knight Riders |
| 14 | Karima Gore | San Francisco Unicorns |
| 15 | Lahiru Milantha | Washington Freedom |
| 16 | Jahmar Hamilton | San Francisco Unicorns |
| 17 | Matthew Tromp | LA Knight Riders |
| 18 | Yasir Mohammad | Washington Freedom |
| 19 | Ayan Desai | Seattle Orcas |
| 20 | Rushil Ugarkar | MI New York |
International Players in MLC 2024
Some players were returning from last season, while many new faces were added to the teams. This draft helped fill out each squad with the required number of domestic players.
Some big-name players from other countries were also announced as new signings during the recap of the domestic player draft.
Australian batter Matthew Short will play for the San Francisco Unicorns.
New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell joined the Texas Super Kings.
New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell was signed by the Seattle Orcas.
The MI New York team signed West Indian all-rounder Romario Shepherd and South African fast bowler Anrich Nortje.
These international star players will play alongside the domestic players drafted from the United States. The teams are getting ready for an exciting second season of Major League Cricket with these new additions.
