MLC 2025 Retentions: Stoinis to Maxwell - List of International Retained Players Ahead of Major League Cricket Draft

MLC 2025 Retentions: Several big name players were retained as Major League Cricket (MLC) franchises have announced their retention list ahead of the third season's draft, set to take place on February 19.

The six MLC teams - MI New York, Texas Super Kings, Los Angeles Knight Riders, Seattle Orcas, San Francisco Unicorns and Washington Freedom had earlier revealed their domestic players retention with some top names being let go.

Defending champions Washington Freedom made the most retentions overall as they retained 15 players, including six overseas stars, featuring their captain Steve Smith and his Australian compatriots Glenn Maxwell and Jack Edwards as well as a couple of New Zealand and a solitary South Africa star.

Last season's runners up, San Francisco Unicorns retained their key players, including explosive openers Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk as well as Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf, while Seattle Orcas retained just seven players, including two overseas stars Heinrich Klaasen and Ryan Rickelton of South Africa.

LA Knight Riders retained three overseas stars - West Indies veterans Sunil Narine (five wickets) and Andre Russell (129 runs, two wickets in six matches), along with Australian pacer Spencer Johnson (nine wickets in six games).

MI New York, the inaugural champions, retained West Indies legend Kieron Pollard (63 runs, five wickets in five matches), Trent Boult (nine wickets in seven matches), Nicholas Pooran (180 runs in seven matches), and Rashid Khan (162 runs, 10 wickets in seven matches).

Texas Super Kings (TSK) retained captain Faf du Plessis and Devon Conway (420 and 293 runs in eight innings, respectively). They also kept Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis (83 runs, seven wickets in seven matches) and Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad.

A total of 23 players were among the international players being retained by the MLC franchise ahead of the player draft. Australia dominate the list with seven retentions followed by four retentions each from South Africa, West Indies and New Zealand. Here is a look at the foreign players retained before the draft:

MLC Retention 2025 - List of International Retained Players Ahead of Major League Cricket Draft

LA Knight Riders 2025 Retained Players: Spencer Johnson (Australia), Andre Russell (West Indies), Sunil Narine (West Indies)
MI New York 2025 Retained Players: Kieron Pollard (West Indies), Nicholas Pooran (West Indies), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Trent Boult (New Zealand)
San Francisco Unicorns 2025 Retained Players: Haris Rauf (Pakistan), Finn Allen (New Zealand), Jake Fraser-McGurk (Australia), Matthew Short (Australia)
Seattle Orcas 2025 Retained Players: Heinrich Klaasen (South Africa), Ryan Rickelton (South Africa)
Texas Super Kings 2025 Retained Players: Faf du Plessis (South Africa), Devon Conway (New Zealand), Noor Ahmad (Afghanistan), Marcus Stoinis (Australia)
Washington Freedom 2025 Retained Players: Marco Jansen (South Africa), Glenn Maxwell (Australia), Lockie Ferguson (New Zealand), Rachin Ravindra (New Zealand), Steve Smith (Australia), Jack Edwards (Australia)