Major League Cricket: Teams, Start Date, Timing, Format, Rules – All You Need To Know About MLC 2023

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Major League Cricket (MLC) 2023 - the first-ever franchise based T20 league, organized by USA Cricket is all set to start with six teams battling for the title in the inaugural edition.

The inaugural season of MLC will see a total of 19 matches, including the playoffs like most other leagues across the globe with the matches being played across two venues.

The tournament will be spread across 15 days and will feature some international stars as well as the domestic stars from the United States. Here is all you need to know about the first-ever MLC from rules, format and more:

What format will Major League Cricket be played in?

The MLC like most other franchise leagues like IPL, BBL, PSL, SA20 and LPL, will be played in T20 format. That is, a maximum of 20 overs for each team in a match. The match will see 11 players take on 11 players featuring a mix of overseas stars and domestic players.

How many overseas players are allowed to be part of a MLC squad and how many can play for a team in one match?

A squad is allowed a maximum of 19 and a minimum of 16 players. A maximum of nine overseas players are allowed on each rosted. However, the final playing XIs can have only a maximum of six overseas players and five domestic players.

When does the MLC 2023 tournament start and end?

The MLC season 1 begins with the single round-robin stage, where each team play each other once, from Thursday, July 13 to Tuesday, July 25 and conclude with the playoffs from Thursday, July 27 to Sunday, July 30.

What time will the MLC 2023 matches start?

On most days the match will start at 7:30 PM CDT / 8:30 PM ET / 5:30 PM PT. In India the matches that start at 7:30 PM CDT, will start at 6 AM IST the next day. In UK, the match will start at 1:30 AM BST. The GMT start time for the match will be 12:30 AM GMT.

On double-header days, the first match will start at 3:30 PM CDT / 4:30 PM ET / 1:30 PM PT. In India, on double header days, the first match will start at 3 AM IST and in the UK at 10:30 PM BST. The GMT start time for the first match of the double header day will be 9:30 PM GMT.

Where will the MLC 2023 matches be played?

12 of the 19 matches, including the playoffs, will take place at Grand Prairie Stadium near Dallas, Texas, while Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina will host the remaining 7 round-robin matches.

What is the MLC 2023 Playoff format? How is the playoff teams determined?

The Playoff format is similar to the other T20 leagues in which the top four teams on the points table after the completion of the round-robin phase advance to the playoffs, which will feature Qualifier, Eliminator, Challenger and the Final.

The Qualifier will see teams placed first and second battle with the winner heading directly into the final, while the loser gets another chance to reach the final via the Challenger, where they will face the winner of the Eliminator, which sees the third and fourth placed teams do battle.

Which are the teams that will be part of inaugural edition of MLC?

The six founding teams of MLC 2023 are: Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings and Washington Freedom.

Four of the six teams are owned by IPL team owners - LA Knight Riders, MI New York, Texas Super Kings and Seattle Orcas (Co-owner of Delhi Capitals).

Who are the owners of the MLC season 1 teams?

Who are the big players in action at MLC 2023?

Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Rashid Khan, Trent Boult, Kieron Pollard, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Corey Anderson, Faf du Plessis, Devon Conway, David Miller, Quinton de Kock, Shimron Hetmyer, Imad Wasim, Sikandar Raza, Wanindu Hasaranga, Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen are some of the international players that will be in action.

Where can we watch the MLC matches on TV and Online?