Haris Rauf among players retained ahead of MLC 2025 player draft

Pakistan’s right-arm pacer Haris Rauf has been retained by last edition’s runners-up San Francisco Unicorns ahead of the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 player draft, scheduled to be held on February 19.

Rauf, who picked up just four wickets at a dismal average of 73.50 in nine matches for the Unicorns in the previous edition, was among the 12 players retained by the franchise.

Unicorns retained the majority of their core but let go of key players including Australia’s Pat Cummins and Josh Inglis and New Zealand’s Matt Henry.

Defending champions Washington Freedom retained 15 players, the most across the six participating teams, but parted ways with hard-hitting Australian opener Travis Head, the joint-highest run-scorer last year, alongside compatriot and captain Steve Smith.

The Freedom also released West Indies’ Akeal Hossein and Australia’s Andrew Tye.

Meanwhile, Seattle Orcas, who finished last in the previous edition after managing to secure just one victory from their seven league-stage matches will undergo a massive squad revamp as they retained the least number of players.

Orcas released a total of seven overseas players including Quinton de Kock, Michael Bracewell, and Obed McCoy.

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.

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.