The 2025 Major League Cricket players' draft was held on February 20, 2025, ahead of the 2025 Major League Cricket season for teams to pick domestic players. Like the previous year, the draft was held virtually and not by broadcast. The results of the draft were released by Major League Cricket via their social media platforms.
The format of the draft was same as the previous season, it was conducted over 10 rounds divided on the basis of salary cap, using the "snake" format. A total of 16 picks were made in the final draft.
Salary cap The draft had fixed salary caps for each round, with the highest being $75,000 in the first round and the lowest being $10,000 in the tenth round.
First Round – $75,000 Second Round – $65,000 Third Round – $60,000 Fourth Round – $50,000 Fifth Round – $40,000 Sixth Round – $35,000 Seventh Round – $25,000 Eighth Round – $20,000 Ninth Round – $15,000 Tenth Round – $10,000
Retained players The retention window for the third season was open till February 13, 2025, and the teams were allowed retain any number of domestic players within this deadline. Ahead of the draft, many teams decided to let go of marquee players like Travis Head, Kagiso Rabada, and Daryl Mitchell. The Freedom had the most retentions with 15 players, while the Orcas had the least retentions with just 7.
+Retained overseas players for the 2024 Major League Cricket seasonPlayerNationality Spencer Johnson Sunil Narine Andre Russell Trent Boult Rashid Khan Nicholas Pooran Kieron Pollard Finn Allen Jake Fraser-McGurk Haris Rauf Matthew Short Heinrich Klaasen Ryan Rickelton Devon Conway Faf du Plessis Marcus Stoinis Noor Ahmad Glenn Maxwell Jack Edwards Lockie Ferguson Marco Jansen Rachin Ravindra Steve Smith
+Retained domestic players for the 2024 Major League Cricket seasonPlayerSalary cap Adithya Ganesh $75,000 Ali Khan $75,000 Unmukt Chand $65,000 Nitish Kumar $40,000 Corné Dry $20,000 Saif Badar $15,000 Shadley van Schalkwyk $10,000 Matthew Tromp $5,000 Ehsan Adil $50,000 Nosthush Kenjige $40,000 Monank Patel $35,000 Heath Richards $20,000 Sunny Patel $10,000 Rushil Ugarkar $5,000 Corey Anderson $75,000 Hassan Khan$75,000 Liam Plunkett $65,000 Carmi le Roux $35,000 Brody Couch $25,000 Karima Gore $10,000 Sanjay Krishnamurthi $2,500 Juanoy Drysdale Harmeet Singh $75,000 Cameron Gannon $40,000 Aaron Jones $20,000 Ayan Desai $5,000 Joshua Tromp $75,000 Calvin Savage $65,000 Milind Kumar $40,000 Saiteja Mukkamalla $2,500 Mohammad Mohsin Zia-ul-Haq Andries Gous $75,000 Mukhtar Ahmed $65,000 Obus Pienaar $50,000 Saurabh Netravalkar $40,000 Amila Aponso $25,000 Ian Holland $25,000 Justin Dill $10,000 Lahiru Milantha $10,000 Yasir Mohammad $5,000
Draft selections
Domestic draft No players were drafted by the teams in the third, fourth and fifth rounds. So, the 6th pick of the draft was directly made in the sixth round.
+First round selections made during the draft Pick Player Team MiLC Team1Jessy SinghSeattle OrcasNew Jersey Stallions2Shubham RanjaneTexas Super KingsDallas Xforia Giants
+Fourth round selections made during the draft Pick Player Team MiLC Team3Agni ChopraMI New York–4Tajinder SinghMI New YorkChicago Kingsmen
+Fifth round selections made during the draft Pick Player Team MiLC Team5Sujit NayakSeattle OrcasSeattle Thunderbolts
+Seventh round selections made during the draft Pick Player Team MiLC Team6Steven TaylorSeattle OrcasAtlanta Fire
+Eighth round selections made during the draft Pick Player Team MiLC Team7Shayan JahangirSeattle OrcasSilicon Valley Strikers8Kunwarjit SinghMI New York–
+Ninth round selections made during the draft Pick Player Team MiLC Team9Karthik GattepalliLA Knight RidersHouston Hurricanes10Sharad LumbaMI New York–11Stephen WiigTexas Super KingsNew Jersey Stallions
+Tenth round selections made during the draft Pick Player Team MiLC Team12Hammad AzamSan Francisco UnicornsChicago Kingsmen13Abhishek ParadkarWashington FreedomEast Bay Blazers
+Rookie (U23) round selections made during the draft Pick Player Team MiLC Team14Rahul JariwalaSeattle OrcasGolden State Grizzlies15Adam KhanTexas Super KingsFt. Lauderdale Lions16Achilles BrowneSan Francisco UnicornsFt. Lauderdale Lions
Overseas signings The following players were directly signed by teams ahead of the 2025 season.
+Overseas signings for the 2025 Major League Cricket season Player Nationality Team Ref. Alex Hales Los Angeles Knight Riders–
References