MLC 2025 Released Players List: Pat Cummins & Travis Head to Skip Season With Several Big Names Let go

Several star players, including Australia's Travis Head and Pat Cummins were let go as Major League Cricket (MLC) franchises announced their retained and released players ahead of the third season's draft, which is set to take place on February 19.

Cummins and Head have opted to give the season a miss as per a report in CricBuzz due to national team commitments with Australia shceduled to face West Indies in Tests during the MLC 2025 window. Apart from Cummins and Head, South Africa's Kagiso Rabada and David Miller, were also among big names not retained.

Defending champions Washington Freedom, who let go of their joint-highest run-scorer Head, have also let go of bowlers Akeal Hosein and Andrew Tye, from their set of international stars from their title-winning squad.

San Francisco Unicorns let go of New Zealand pacer Matt Henry, and Australian wicketkeeper Josh Inglis (157 runs in nine matches) alongside Cummins (4 wickets). The franchise also released West Indies all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford and Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed.

Seattle Orcas has released big names like - South African wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock (170 runs in seven games), New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell, West Indies pacer Obed McCoy, and South African pacer Nandre Burger (four wickets last season).

Meanwhile, South Africa batter Miller (81 runs in six games), England opener Jason Roy (163 runs in six matches), Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan (60 runs, one wicket in four games), and Australian spinner Adam Zampa were released by Los Angeles Knight Riders.

MI New York, the inaugural champions, released South Africa pacer Anrich Nortje (one wicket in two matches), his compatriot Rabada, and power-hitters Tim David (27 runs in three matches) of Australia and Dewald Brevis (85 runs in four matches) of South Africa.

Texas Super Kings (TSK) released the likes of Mitchell Santner (two wickets in two matches) of New Zealand, Matheesha Pathirana of Sri Lanka, Daryl Mitchell of New Zealand, and Naveen-ul-Haq of Afghanistan.

Several notable domestic U.S. players were also not retained, including Steven Taylor (MI New York), Shehan Jayasuriya (Seattle Orcas), and Jasdeep Singh (Washington Freedom). Here is a look at the international players being released ahead of MLC 2025 draft:

MLC 2025 Released Players List - International Players Let Go by Major League Cricket teams

MI New York: Kagiso Rabada (South Africa), Anrich Nortje (South Africa), Dewald Brevis (South Africa), Tim David (Australia)
Los Angeles Knight Riders: David Miller (South Africa), Jason Roy (England), Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), Adam Zampa (Australia), Waqar Salamkheil (Afghanistan), Alex Carey (Australia)
Texas Super Kings: Daryl Mitchell (New Zealand), Mitchell Santner (New Zealand), Matheesha Pathirana (Sri Lanka), Naveen-ul-Haq (Afghanistan)
Seattle Orcas: Quinton de Kock (South Africa), Obed McCoy (West Indies), Michael Bracewell (New Zealand), Nandre Burger (South Africa)
San Francisco Unicorns: Pat Cummins (Australia), Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies), Abrar Ahmed (Pakistan), Matt Henry (New Zealand), Josh Inglis (Australia)
Washington Freedom: Travis Head (Australia), Andrew Tye (Australia), Akeal Hosein (West Indies)