Former West Indies opener Chris Gayle, Australian all-rounder Ben Cutting, and former Indian World Cup winner S. Sreesanth will lead their respective teams in the American Premier League (APL)’s forthcoming second season. The APL will be played at Moosa Cricket Stadium from December 19 to 31.
While Sreesanth will captain the Premium Indians, Gayle will captain the Premium Windies, Sohail Tanvir will captain the Premium Pakistanis, Mohammad Nabi will captain the Premium Afghans, and Australian all-rounder Ben Cutting will head the Premium Australians in the tournament.
The Premium Americans will be led by England’s Dan Lawrence. Navneet Dhaliwal, who guided Canada to the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 via the WT20 qualifiers, will skipper the Premium Canadians in their neighbouring country.
Former West Indies opener Chris Gayle expressed his excitement to lead the West Indies in the upcoming edition of the American Premier League and believes that it is a good time to play cricket in the United States and believes that fans will be excited to see the game and that American cricketers will take their game to the next level.
“I am excited to wear the captaincy band of a Windies team again. Playing in America is like playing at home. Cricket as a sport had to find a place in the USA someday and this is the best time to have a league like this.”
“The tournament will not just give us an opportunity to show our experience to the local fans but all the young American cricketers who have qualified, will get to learn a lot from this and take the game to the next level,” Chris Gayle said.
The Premium Windies and Premium Americans will clash against each other in the opening game of the tournament, while the Premium Indians begin their campaign on December 20 against the Windies. Each team faces every other team once in the round games. The top four teams, with the most points, advance to the semifinals. The two winners will face each other off in the finals.
Meanwhile, Earlier this year, a total of six teams participated in the Major Cricket League in the USA with few teams being owned by some Indian Premier League franchises. The six teams are – MI New York, DC Washington Freedom, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Los Angeles Knight Riders, and Texas Super Kings, With MI New York emerging as the winners in the inaugural edition of the MLC.
