The player draft for USA Cricket’s 2021 Minor League Cricket (MLC) was held for 18 franchise squads out of 24, which included 6 teams from Northern and Southern California regions in the Western Conference zone, 3 teams from the Texas region in the Central Conference zone, 2 teams from Atlanta region in the Southern Conference zone and 4 teams from the Eastern Conference zone. Further 3 franchise teams from the Central Conference zone, 1 franchise team from the Southern Conference zone and 2 franchise teams from the Eastern Conference zone were finalized in Sep 2020.
The remaining 3 teams from Illinois, Michigan and Florida regions will conduct the player draft selections in Sep 2020 form the Southern Conference zone. USA Cricket have also announced the Sep 2020 schedule for the exhibition matches, that will take place between the teams in their respective zones to avoid travelling to other zones due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in place across the country.
All franchises will have a 18-member squad, which includes a wildcard professional pick and two domestic professional picks in their squads, as well as three U21 players. The squads contains players who have relocated to USA in the past and some, who will be doing the same in the coming future due to personal/professional reasons. Many players from the Caribbean Islands are part of the announced squads with overseas professionals from South Africa, New Zealand and Canada have been picked up as wildcard professionals in the draft.
Minor League Cricket is of utmost importance for USA Cricket to create a nationwide domestic T20 structure, and also serve as a pathway program for domestic players to impress the coaching staff and the administration to play in Major League Cricket, which will pave the way for representing USA in the future. As announced by USA Cricket, since the inaugural edition of Minor League Cricket was postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic, the teams in each conference zones can arrange exhibition matches within themselves during Sep/Oct 2020 to avoid travelling to other zones in the country.
2021 Minor League Cricket Squads
Western Conference
East Bay Blazers: Aarnav Iyer, Dev Thadhani, Josh Dascombe, Mansingh Nigade (India – Wildcard), Mohammadesa Kunarai, Nick McLachlan (Domestic Professional), Rohit Ramkumar, Ruchir Joshi, Rusty Theron, Sai Anurag Kara, Saideep Ganesh, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Shamith Pasula, Shiva Vashishat, Shivan Mishra (Domestic Professional), Skanda Rohit Sharma, Vinay Baid and Zaki Sultani
Golden State Grizzlies: Amritpal Singh, Arya Venkatesh, Asad Khan, Barpreet Singh, Bhavesh Jain, Malik Junaid, Mohit Natraj, Neeraj Goel, Nihal Desai, Ramandeep Singh, Rudolph Hinds, Saad Khan, Saqib Saleem (Domestic Professional), Saurabh Netravalkar (Domestic Professional), Sohan Bhat, Srinidhi Raghavendran, Srinivasan Mohan (India – Wildcard) and Vibhav Altekar
Hollywood Master Blasters: Ali Shafi, Amitoze Singh (India – Wildcard), Elmore Hutchinson, Harpreet Bhullar, Iddagodage Daluwatte, Iftekhar Ahmed, Janak Patel, Jay Jeble, Jignesh Patel, Karan Viradiya (Domestic Professional), Khalid Zadran, Mehul Dave, Monank Patel (Domestic Professional), Nigarg Patel, Pukar Patel, Sakthi Karimanal, Timil Patel and Trishul Manoj
San Diego Surf Riders: Abhinay Reddy, Ajay Sharma, Aman Lobana, Christopher Lane, David Pieters, Gaurav Chintamneedi, Hikmatyar Marofkhel, Jaideep Reddy, Mandar Manjrekar, Marty Kain (New Zealand – Wildcard), Mrunal Patel (Domestic Professional), Muhammad Sadiq, Raj Vyas, Rajveer Khosa, Ravi Timbawala (Domestic Professional), Sahaj Patel, Siddarth Matani and Smitesh Modak
Silicon Valley Strikers: Abbas Jafri, Adnesh Tondale, Anshul Singh, Arjun Thyagarajan, Dhiraj Swarnkar, Dilpreet Billing, Gary Graham (Domestic Professional), Krithik Udayashankar, Narsingh Deonarine (Guyana – Domestic Professional), Natwr Agrawal, Nawaz Khan, Pranay Suri, Rahul Ashwini, Rahul Jariwala, Shadley Van Schalkwyk (South Africa – Wildcard), Sheryar Khan, Srini Raghavan and Vatsal Vaghela
SoCal Lashings: Aaskashveer Saini, Abhimanyu Rajp (India – Wildcard), Ahmed Razi, Ammar Siddiqui, Deepak Gosain, Evin Hewageegana, Faizan Siddiqi, Gayan Fernando (Domestic Professional), Hammad Shahid, Harman Sandhir, Harpreet Singh, Kanishka Chaugai, Muhammad Zaid, Peter Vittachi, Sirajul Ahmed, Sukhwant Sekhon, Vedant Jain and Venukalyan Madireddy (Domestic Professional)
Central Conference
Austin Athletics: Ahmed Butt, Ahmed Fazal, Ali Samad, Alish Dogra, Awais Mubarak, Dylan Joseph, Jagrit Raj, Jay Pathak, Majjir Zubair (Domestic Professional), Niket Kumar, Prajith Mudi (Domestic Professional), Rizwan Rajani, Saad Humayun, Sidhesh Pathare, Sri Pare, Sumeet Khule, Vijayaballaji Vijaykumar and Willem Ludick (New Zealand – Wildcard)
Houston Hurricanes: Adnan Haroon, Ahan Bhakre, Ali Khan, Ammar Siddiqui, Hamza Bangash, Hamza Khalid, Hassan Rashid, Karan Narang, Naseer Jamali, Rana Ali, Saad Bin Zafar (Canada – Wildcard), Safiullah Faheem, Saqlain Haider (Domestic Professional), Shams Arefeen, Shayan Jahangir, Shuja Naqvi, Usman Rafiq (Domestic Professional) and Waleed Ahmed
Irving Mustangs: Abhiram Valisammagari, Ahad Khan, Ali Sheikh, Ashadullah Khan, Himanshu Sharma, Junaid Nadir (Domestic Professional), Kaleem Sana (Canada – Wildcard), Karthik Gattepalli, Ninad Nimbalkar, Nosthush Kenjige, Orlando Baker, Person Mathews, Rehman Dar, Soorya Selvakumar, Sujith Gowda (Domestic Professional), Sushant Modani, Syed Adeel and Syed Shah
Chicago Blasters: Anirudh Jonnavitula, Ashhar Mehdi (Domestic Professional), Fahad Babar (Domestic Professional), Hasan Bematm, Hunain Amin, Joshua Dylan Kind, Kabir Hussain, Kausthubh Sriperumbudoor, Koti Vanga, Mohammed Khaleel (Pakistan – Wildcard), Mohammed Yar Khan, Mohit Patel, Moin Babar, Munn Patel, Najam Iqbal, Sachin Veeraswamy, Shaheer Hasan and Talha Mohsin
Chicago Catchers: Aamir Shahzad, Ankush Agrawal, Asmar Najam, Ayaz Patel, Hasan Khan, Jay Desai, Jay Patel, Karan Kumar (Domestic Professional), Paras Marwaha, Pruthvish Patel, Raid Ally, Raja Koppella, Rizwan Cheema (Canada – Wildcard), Saquib Choudhury, Sarwar Ghori, Sikander Soleja, Tejas Visal and Waseem Khan (Domestic Professional)
Michigan Cricket Stars: Arjun Ajbani (Domestic Professional), Azher Syed, Divyaprakash Kumar, Ferhan Ali, Foyaz Lingcon, Harish Yalamanchili, Jawad Chaudhry, Jonathan Dees, Mahfuzur Rahman, Mohammed A. Kashem, Mohammed Rahin, Mostafa Khan, Mufassir Ali, Nikhil Kanchan, Nitish Kumar (Canada – Wildcard), Shaker Ahmed (Domestic Professional), Tamim Oni and Waleed K. Hussain
Eastern Conference
New Jersey Stallions: Akeem Dodson, Anish Patel, Anvesh Buddineni, Dominique Rikhi (Domestic Professional), Hiren Patel, Jishnav Kohli, Malay Singh, Nelve McNally, Nikhil Dutta (Canada – Wildcard), Oraine Williams, Raj Bhavsar (Domestic Professional), Raymond Ramrattan, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Salik Iqbal, Savan Patel, Umair Ali, Vivek Ravichandran and Yasith Perera
Empire State Titans: Amanpreet Singh, Avin Gangadin, Barrington Bartley, Bilal Ahmad, Damion Jacobs, Derone Davis, Gajanand Singh (Domestic Professional), Jaladh Dua, Muhammad Ibrahim, Rabbi Chowdhuary, Rizwan Mazhar, Shashank Krishnamurthy, Trevon Griffith (Jamaica – Wildcard), Trinson Carmichael, Umer Farooq (Domestic Professional), Waseem Shahzad, Zahib Tariq and Zeeshan Ahmed
New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers: Aaron Jones, Adeel Ahmad, Aditya Sharma, Akshay Homraj, Aman Patel, Chanderpaul Hemraj (Guyana – Wildcard), Derick Narine, Jasdeep Singh, Juanoy Drysdale, Keifer Phill, Kennar Lewis (Domestic Professional), Muhammad Ghous, Murad Niazi, Shawn Findlay, Syed Abdullah, Usman Ashraf, Xavier Marshall (Domestic Professional) and Yasir Mohammad
The Philadelphians: Abhayjit Khangura, Chiru Bhatia, Gaurav Rana, Iknoor Singh, Jaymin Goswami (India – Wildcard), Karima Gore, Kunal Baride, Manoj Acharya, Marco Granston, Mayurnath Sankar Rao, Muhammad Shah, Nil Patel (Domestic Professional), Nitish Mahesh (Domestic Professional), Pranav Rao, Quasen Alfred, Rimal Patel, Vivek Narayan and Yashwant Balaji
New England Eagles: Alexandrino Kirton (Domestic Professional), Amarnath Raavi, Asaad Fudadin (Guyana – Wildcard), Bruce Blackwood, Ravi Singh, Emanuel Seecharran, Fazal Alam (Domestic Professional), Karthikea Jagadish, Muhammad Ibrahim, Nikel Hay, Oneil Powell, Pratik Dudhane, Raghavendra Kulaspur, Raghunandan Sridhar, Sahil Koul, Umair Mir, Zeshan Muhammad and Ziqa Ullah
DC Hawks: Abdul Jabbar, Abdullah Ghazi, Adil Bhatti (Domestic Professional), Christopher Vantull, Franklin Clement, Gourav Bajaj, Ishan Sharma, Naseer Islam, Navin Stewart (Trinidad & Tobago – Wildcard), Rashesh Behera, Ritwik Behera, Sahil Kapoor, Shehan Perrera, Sunny Sohal (Domestic Professional), Tallal Zia, Waleed Karimullah, Waqar Ahmad and Waqas Basra
Southern Conference
Atlanta Param Veers: Bhavin Patel, Darpankumar Patel, Evroy Dyer (Domestic Professional), Garth Garvey (Domestic Professional), Gurpreet Raina, Heer Patel, Ishmael Parchment, Jagroop Raina, Jamel Morgan, Mark Parchment, Param Patel, Ragib Chowdhury, Sanjeev Saini, Santosh Reddy, Shaquille Forbes, Sreenath Kolachur, Steven Taylor (USA – Wildcard) and Viraj Vaghela
Atlanta Fire: Ahsan Plummer, Akhilesh Bodugum, Amit Koul, Amit Sood, Amrut Pore, Azeem Charania, Camilus ALexander, Dean Morgan, Jaydeep Desai, Kishan Das, Pranavh Pradeep, Ridwan Palash, Rishi Bhardwaj (Domestic Professional), Sagar Patel (USA – Wildcard), Sahil Charania, Salman Safi, Vinothkumar Kandaswamy and Zaid Syed (Domestic Professional)
Morrisville Cardinals: Abhiram Bolisetty, Aditya Padala, Andre Dwyer, Aryan Shah, Fahad Khan, Gaurav Khanna, Gautham Ravindran, Jaskaran Malhotra (Domestic Professional), Kunal Sehgal, Mayur Choudhary, Murali Krishna Ankaraju Nilesh Patil, Raviteja Manda, Rohan Phadke, Roy Silva (USA – Wildcard), Sandeep Pilania, Sanjay Stanley and Muhammad Abdullah Shah (Domestic Professional)
