Travis Head, Kagiso Rabada among top T20 stars not retained for MLC 2025: Reports

The 2025 Major League Cricket (MLC) franchise retentions do not include major names like Travis Head, Kagiso Rabada, and David Miller among others. The player draft for the third season is scheduled for Wednesday, February 19.

Defending champions Washington Freedom have retained the most players out of the six franchises, but star players like Travis Head, and Akeal Hosein are not part of the list. While Steve Smith has been retained by the side, Australia's tour of the Caribbean in the June-July window coinciding with MLC 2025, complicates his availability.

Runners-up San Francisco Unicorns have also released big names like Pat Cummins, Matt Henry, and Josh Inglis, but have retained the opening pair of Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk and pace spearhead Haris Rauf.

Kagiso Rabada, who has been part of the MI family through the MI Cape Town and the MI New York, has been released by the latter. Apart from the pacer, the inaugural MLC winners have also parted ways with other major names like Anrich Nortje, Dewald Brevis, and Tim David.

The Texas Super Kings have released star pacer Matheesha Pathirana, as well as Mitchell Santner, Naveen-ul-Haq, and Daryl Mitchell. Skipper Faf du Plessis, veteran opener Devon Conway, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, and frontline spinner Noor Ahmad are the major names retained by the franchise.

Runners-up from the first season, the Seattle Orcas plan on a major revamp after their dismal 2024 campaign. They have retained only seven players, the least among all teams, with South Africa's Heinrich Klaasen and Ryan Rickelton being among them.

Veteran all-rounders Sunil Narine and Andre Russell continue to be a part of the LA Knight Riders, but major names like David Miller, Jason Roy, Shakib Al Hasan, and Adam Zampa have been released.

Franchise-wise retention list 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