In a bumper signing, Australia Test and ODI skipper Pat Cummins is set to feature in the second season of MLC. The 31-year-old will turn out for the San Francisco Unicorns, a franchise sharing a strategic relationship with Victoria’s first-class set up in Australia. Cummins is expected to fill in the leadership vacuum at the Unicorns after Aaron Finch’s retirement.
With this MLC stint, Cummins takes a big step into the T20 franchise world, after just leading Sunrisers Hyderabad to the final of IPL 2024. The Australian captain has also featured in the Big Bash. Cummins, has been on the road with Australia and the Sunrisers since mid February. The three-week MLC stint which commences 5 days after the end of the World Cup will wrap up a grueling cricketing odyssey for Cummins, which he embarked on with the tour of New Zealand in February.
Quite pertinently, he has previously shown no temptation to throwing his hat in the T20 franchise circuit. The fact that Cummins has handpicked MLC is increasingly a stamp on the league’s growing eminence in world cricket. The weight it now pulls in the T20 circuit to attract the A-listed stars is conspicuous. Cummins joins fellow Aussies Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Spencer Johnson, Steve Smith and Jake Fraser Mcgurk for the second season of the MLC . It is understood that Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, and a host of other Australians from the Australian world cup squad are also expected to make a dash to state side.
The second season of MLC gets underway on July 5 with a double header. The defending champions MI New York and Seattle Orcas will kick off proceedings in a finale rematch of the previous season in Morrisville, following which Texas Super Kings will take on the LA Knight Riders in a home game at the Grand Prairie Stadium in the Dallas Metro area.
