All you need to know about Major League Cricket season three

MLC 2025 kicks off on June 12, with defending champions Washington Freedom taking on San Francisco Unicorns in a rematch of last season's final at the Oakland Coliseum, which has hosted baseball and American football matches. The stadium was a prominent feature in the 2011 film Moneyball, based on Michael Lewis' book which documented the Athletics' success following data-driven strategies in the early 2000s.

Unicorns will play three home games at the Coliseum. The league will run until July 13, when the final will be played at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. Central Broward Stadium in Lauderhill will host matches for the first time this season, including a double-header on July 4. The Grand Prairie Stadium, which had staged games in 2023 and 2024, will host 16 of the 34 games this season, including the knockouts.

The six teams are Washington Freedom, San Francisco Unicorns, MI New York, Los Angeles Knight Riders, Texas Super Kings and Seattle Orcas. Four of these teams are owned by IPL franchises. Apart from the three obvious ones, Orcas are owned by the GMR group, who co-own Delhi Capitals.

Freedom, owned by Indian-American entrepreneur Sanjay Govil, have Cricket New South Wales as their high-performance partner. Unicorns, owned by Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, have a strategic partnership with Cricket Victoria. The league is soon to expand with New Zealand Cricket coming on board as investors and set to part-own one of the new teams in 2027.

Four of the six teams have new captains in MLC 2025. Nicholas Pooran, who had recently retired from international cricket at the age of 29, has been named MINY's new captain while his former West Indies team-mate Jason Holder will lead LA Knight Riders. With Holder set to miss LAKR's first two games because of international commitments, Sunil Narine will stand in as the franchise's captain. Holder will join the LAKR side ahead of their third match against Freedom.

Freedom will also have a new captain, with Glenn Maxwell taking over from Steven Smith, who will only make a brief appearance this season. Having also retired from international cricket, Heinrich Klaasen will take charge of Orcas while Unicorns have retained Corey Anderson as their captain. Super Kings, who are big on continuity and consistency across leagues, have retained Faf du Plessis as their captain.

The league also has a new CEO, with Johnny Grave replacing Vijay Srinivasan ahead of the new season, as it prepares for its expansion. Grave is a key figure in cricket administration, having most recently served as CEO at CWI for seven years. He was previously the commercial director at the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) in England.

David Warner is set for his maiden MLC stint, having signed with Orcas. Warner, however, is a familiar face for the franchise, having played for them in other leagues: IPL (Delhi Capitals) and ILT20 (Dubai Capitals).

Australia's Mitchell Owen, among the most sought-after names in T20 cricket right now following his barnstorming century in the BBL final in January earlier this year, will reunite with coach Ricky Ponting at Freedom, having already worked with him at Hobart Hurricanes and Punjab Kings. Also watch out for Sherfane Rutherford, who is gearing up for his MLC debut with LAKR after impressing in franchise leagues around the world, including the IPL.

Then there is New Zealand tearaway Ben Sears, who will join Owen at Freedom. Sears was also on Ponting's radar at one point as a potential replacement for Lockie Ferguson at PBKS in the IPL. This will be Sears' chance to announce himself to the franchise world.

While Rashid Khan and Azmatullah Omarzai (both MINY) have opted out of the tournament, Naveen-ul-Haq (MINY), Noor Ahmad (TSK) and Waqar Salamkheil (Orcas) have joined their respective teams after doubts emerged over the participation of Afghanistan players owing to the travel ban imposed by the US government.

Two other Afghanistan players - Gulbadin Naib and Fazalhaq Farooqi, who play for Orcas - are understood to be awaiting visas to travel to play in MLC.

It's hard to look past Saurabh Netravalkar, the left-arm seamer who even made it to the IPL 2024 auction shortlist after his out-of-office spells for USA and Freedom. He is the highest wicket-taker among USA players in the MLC, with 25 strikes in 13 matches at an economy rate of 7.49, and the second highest overall.

Among the young batters, Saiteja Mukkamalla (TSK) could make his MLC bow this season after producing outstanding numbers for USA in T20Is: the 21-year-old averages over 40 and has a strike rate of nearly 153 after 18 T20Is. Sanjay Krishnamurthi, who turned 22 earlier this month, is another serious talent in the Unicorns side with a wide array of shots in his repertoire.

Don't forget Agni Chopra, who became the first batter to score centuries in his first four first-class games. Agni has since ended his Indian domestic career with Mizoram and has moved to the USA, attracting the attention of MINY. Agni, 26, is the son of film critic Anupama Chopra and filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who made the popular movie 12th Fail.

Like most franchise leagues, the MLC will first have a round-robin league stage. The top two teams will meet in the Qualifier, with the winners of that match advancing to the final.

The third and fourth-placed teams will meet in the Eliminator. The winner of the Eliminator will face the team that loses the Qualifier in the Challenger, where the second finalist will be decided.

Of course, the MLC overlaps with the T20 Blast in England and some international fixtures, including the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord's. The MLC, though, has avoided a clash with the Hundred this season after the two leagues had overlapped by six days in 2024.