the fourth season of Major League Cricket (MLC) World-class T20 cricket in the United States has brought tremendous excitement. The tournament, scheduled to run from June 18 to July 18, 2026, has been expanded to a 34-match schedule, promising intense competition across an entire month. Six powerhouse franchises, filled with a mix of local American talent and global cricket superstars, will compete across iconic venues in Texas and California to crown the next champion of the American Summer.
The tournament begins with a huge opening-night rivalry at Grand Prairie Stadium, where Texas Super Kings but take seattle orcas. This year’s expanded tournament introduces an extensive double round-robin league stage where all six teams play each other twice, once at home and once away. Teams earn two points for a win and one point for a draw or abandonment, with net run rate serving as the important tiebreaker if teams finish level on points. This rigorous 30-match league format is a true test of team depth, ensuring that only the most consistent and resilient teams earn postseason berths.
After the league stage, the tournament moves into a high-stakes, four-match playoff stage using the Page playoff system. The top two teams on the table will face off in the qualifiers, with the winner getting a direct ticket to the championship final, while the loser will get a second chance. Meanwhile, the third and fourth placed teams will fight for survival in the do-or-die eliminator. The winner of that match will face the loser of the Qualifier in the Challenger to decide who will fill the last remaining spot in the Grand Finale.
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MLC 2026: Complete squads of all 6 teams
Mi New York (Mini): Kieron Pollard (captain), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton (wk), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Monank Patel (wk), Agni Chopra, Tajinder Dhillon, Trent Boult, Sunny Patel, Nostush Kenjige, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, Tristan Luus, Rushil Ugarkar, Corey Anderson, Corbin Bosch, Romario Shepherd, Faisal Khan Ahmadzai and Kunwarjit Singh.
Los Angeles Knight Riders (LAKR): Sunil NarineJason Holder (captain), Alex Hales, Unmukt Chand, Saif Bader, Colin Munro, Andre Fletcher (wk), Nitish Kumar, Jahmar Hamilton (wk), Carmi Le Roux, Christopher Ramsaran, Ali Khan, Lloyd Pope, Andre Russell, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Karthik Gattepalli and Matthew Tromp.
Texas Super Kings (TSK): Faf du Plessis (captain), Riley Rossouw, Kelvin Savage, Smit Patel (wk), Saiteja Mukkamalla, Joshua Tromp (wk), Adam Milne, Nandre Berger, Keshav Maharaj, Hardus Viljoen, Akeal Hosein, Mohammad Mohsin, Abhimanyu Lamba, Wiaan Mulder, Milind Kumar, Donovan Ferreira, Shubham Ranjane and Amshi de Silva.
Washington Freedom (WF): steve smith (c), Mark Chapman, Mukhtar Ahmed, Lahiru Milantha (wk), Andries Goss (wk), Lockie Ferguson, Ben Dwarshuis, Amila Aponso, Saurabh Netrawalkar, Asif Mahmood, Abhishek Paradkar, Yasir Mohammed, Glenn Maxwell, Rachin Ravindra, Obas Pienaar, Ian Holland, Marco Jansen, Nikhil Choudhary, Jack Edwards and Michelle Owen.
San Francisco Unicorns (SFU): Finn Allen (wk), Zia-ul-Haq, Connor Esterhuizen, Saideep Ganesh (wk), Sanjay Krishnamurthy, Luan-Dre Pretorius (wk), Ollie Peake, Drew Gomel, Xavier Bartlett, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Ilyas, Juwan Drysdale, Ravichandran Ashwin, Hasan Khan, Hammad Azam, Matthew Short (c), Aaron Hardy. And Anirudh Emmanuel.
Seattle Orcas (SO): Shimron Hetmyer, Shehan Jayasuriya, Tim Seifert (wk), Shayan Jahangir, Matthew Bretzke, Sujit Nayak, Sharad Lumumba, Rahul Jariwala (wk), Tim Robinson, Cameron Gannon, Lungi Ngidi, Otneil Bartman, Harmeet Singh, Tanveer Sangha, Jasdeep Singh, Ayan Desai, Dasun Shanaka, Marcus Stoinis. (captain), and Ali Shaikh.
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