Pollard To Lead MI New York, Roster Includes Rashid Khan, Trent Boult And Nicholas Pooran
MI New York today announced the signing of nine international players, completing the roster of 18 players, featuring a strong core of experience, homegrown talent, and young players, a feature that is common across all the MI teams, in three different continents, four different countries, and five different leagues. In addition to the players, MI New York have also announced their line-up of coaching staff for the inaugural season.
Mumbai Indians legend Kieron Pollard will captain the franchise and the roster also includes Afghanistan’s T20 captain Rashid Khan and former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran.
They will be joined by New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult and the Aussie duo of the big-hitting Tim David and pacer Jason Behrendorff. The team will also feature rising South African star Dewald Brevis, pace sensation Kagiso Rabada and Namibian all-rounder David Wiese, who has previously represented South Africa as well. All the players except for David Wiese also play across multiple MI Teams – Mumbai Indians, MI Cape Town and MI Emirates, forming a strong core for MI, globally.
Mr. Akash M. Ambani, Owner of Mumbai Indians, said, “We are thrilled to unveil team MI New York in the upcoming Major League Cricket season. Stalwart Pollard is leading the team which has international superstars Rashid Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Trent Boult, and Kagiso Rabada. It is an extraordinary line-up of youth, experience, and power. Further, we have exciting talent in the form of Tim David and Brevis, while Jason Behrendorff and David Wiese are proven performers. Combined with the exceptional skills of our local US players, we are confident that MI New York will raise the bar of competition in the cricket ecosystem of the US. We are dedicated to providing our fans with the quintessential MI brand of cricket.”
The schedule for the MI New York matches can be viewed here.
Former SA & MI player and MI Cape Town General Manager Robin Peterson will be the head coach, joined by Mumbai Indians legend Lasith Malinga, as bowling coach. J Arun Kumar and James Pamment will take charge as the batting and fielding coaches respectively. Both Arun Kumar and Pamment were a part of the coaching team as assistant batting coach and fielding coach at Mumbai Indians.
One Family of players:
- Kieron Pollard played for Mumbai Indians for 13 seasons in the IPL, and in the last season retired from the IPL to take on the role of batting coach. He continues to play competitive cricket across the world and leads MI Emirates, under whom Trent Boult and Nicholas Pooran played.
- Jason Behrendorff, Tim David, and Dewald Brevis play for Mumbai Indians, with Tim and Dewald joining their MI Cape Town team mates – Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada.
- Veteran all-rounder David Wiese has been a key part of Namibia’s rise on the international circuit, playing a key role for them in each of the last two T20 World Cups.
MI New York – USA Talent:
At the MLC draft held on 19th March 2023, MI New York drafted 9 players – the first two USA-born players in the form of former captain Steven Taylor, all-rounder Nosthush Kenjige, current USA captain Monank Patel along with wicketkeeper Shayan Jahangir and fast bowler Kyle Phillip.
The full list of local players can be found here.
Major League Cricket will be the first professional Twenty20 cricket championship in the United States. The inaugural season of Major League Cricket will kick off in the summer of 2023. For more information, visit www.majorleaguecricket.com.
The squad size can be a maximum of 19 players, of which nine can be overseas players. A maximum of six international players are permitted in the playing XI, with five domestic players to feature in each match and ten domestic players on each roster at all times. The overseas players are direct signings by the franchises were not part of the draft.
