T20 cricket has taken the cricketing world by storm. That is why every cricket playing nation wants to develop their own T20 leagues. On that note, the United States has also introduced their T20 tournament, which is known as Major League Cricket (MLC). The first edition of the MLC will start on July 13 (Thursday).
This tournament will have a total of six teams. Notably, three out of six teams are owned by IPL franchises. One of them is owned by the Chennai Super Kings, which will be known as the Texas Super Kings. Faf du Plessis is the captain of the team.
They will start their campaign with a game against the Los Angeles Knight Riders on Thursday. The franchise has picked up a number of players who are current CSK players or have played for them in the IPL.
Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner, Du Plessis, and Devon Conway are such players. However, the franchise caught the limelight when they signed former CSK star Ambati Rayudu in the MLC 2023 Draft. Rayudu recently retired from cricket after CSK won the 16th edition of the IPL, beating Gujarat Titans in the final.
However, after the BCCI changed its policy for the retired cricketer, Rayudu had to withdraw from the MLC 2023, citing personal reasons. But the franchise has made a big change and replaced the 37-year-old with another former CSK star.
Imran Tahir in yellow, again! 🦁💛#WhistleForTexas #MajorLeagueCricket pic.twitter.com/1otR72dbPK
— Texas Super Kings (@TexasSuperKings) July 12, 2023
They have picked former South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir as the replacement. Tahir has represented CSK in 27 games and taken 35 wickets. He was also part of the IPL winning team in 2018 and 2021 for the Yellow Army.
The franchise made this announcement through their social media handle. The 44-year-old has a huge amount of experience in this format and has played in various T20 leagues across the globe. He has also picked up 293 wickets in international cricket.
