Major League Cricket Team-by-team Guide: Can Freedom overcome late slip?

LA Knight Riders

2025 finish: 6
Batting rank: 5
Bowling rank: 6
Bowler to watch: Holder player performance and top bowler, in that order, are the bets
Batter to watch: Unmukt Chand has a surprisingly high win rate at 40% on tops in the last two editions

Squad: Jason Holder (c), Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lloyd Pope, Jahmar Hamilton, Andre Fletcher, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Unmukt Chand, Ali Khan, Saif Badar, Kartikh Gatepalli, Matthew Tromp, Carmi le Roux, Nitish Kumar, Kristopher Ramsaran

Possible XI: Hales, Fletcher, Chand, Munro, Nitish, Russell, Narine, van Shalkwyk, Le Roux, Pope, Ali Khan

Analysis: LA have won only five games across their three seasons in MLC. It's some ask, then, to expect them to morph into even a competitive unit. There's a vibe about this mob that they're there for a good time rather than a hard-work time. Jason Holder has a job on his hands to mould a unit which commits.

MI New York

2025 finish: Winner
Batting rank: 4
Bowling rank: 3
Bowler to watch: Boult to go back to first-over wicket hit-rate?
Batter to watch: Six wins in 20 for Pooran mean he'll be a top-bat bet

Squad: Nicholas Pooran (c), Kieron Pollard, Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickelton, Trent Boult, Corbin Bosch, Romario Shepherd, Tristan Luus, Allah Ghazanfar, Corey Anderson, Monank Patel, Tajinder Singh, Nosthush Kenjige, Agni Chopra, Rushil Ugarkar, Kunwarjeet Singh, Sunny Patel, Faisal Ahmadzai

Possible XI: Monank, Rickleton, QDK, Pooran, Bracewell, Tajinder, Rashid, Kenjige, Ehsan, Boult, Ugarkar

Analysis: The champs came from fourth place last season to steal the title. Unpredictability is their forte. Monank Patel is top echelon in terms of domestic talent and was the overall top runscorer last season. They may be light on lower-order hitting. And an MI franchise is never underrated so they will be a swerve.

San Francisco Unicorns

2025 finish: 3
Batting rank: 2
Bowling rank: 4
Bowler to watch: Bartlett wins the tops at 36%
Batsman to watch: Short wins the tops at 38%

Squad: Matthew Short (c), Finn Allen, Cooper Connolly, Aaron Hardie, Xavier Bartlett, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Oliver Peake, Ravichandran Ashwin, Hassan Khan, Brody Couch, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Hammad Azam, Juanoy Drysdale, Aakarshit Gomel, Zia Ul-Haq, Mohammad Ilyas, Anirudh Immanuel, Saideep Ganesh

Possible XI: Short, Allen, Connolly, Hardie, Hassan, Krishnamurthi, Drysdale, Bartlett, Ashwin, Zia, Illyas

Analysis: Unicorns make no secret of where their strength lies. They load up at the top of the order and hope to blow teams away. The bowling is not quite as strong. They've lost 17-wicket Haris rauf. They hope Ravi Ashwin is the solution to keeping things tight

Seattle Orcas

2025 finish: 5
Batting rank: 6
Bowling rank: 5
Bowler to watch: Skip Stoinis should win an MoM at some stage
Batsman to watch: Seifert should dominate and will be a tops follow

Squad: Marcus Stoinis (c), Tim Seifert, Shimron Hetmyer, Matthew Breetzke, Tanveer Sangha, Tim Robinson, Lungi Ngidi, Ottniel Baartman, Jason Behrendorff, Dasun Shanaka, Harmeet Singh, Ayan Desai, Rahul Jariwala, Shayan Jahangir, Jessy Singh, Ali Sheikh, Cameron Gannon, Raymon Reifer, Sujit Nayak, Shehan Jayasuriya, Sharad Lumba

Possible XI: Seifert, Robinson, Hetmyer, Jahangir, Jayasuriya, Stoinis, Harmeet, Sheikh, Gannon, Ngidi, Baartman

Analysis: All change. Orcas have looked to rectify poor batting and bowling numbers. Kiwis Seifert and Robinson are paired as firestarters. SA duo Ngidi and Baartman with the ball is elite. It's an enticing combo. Heinrich Klaasen has moved on but his numbers last term weren't amazing. They could be the team to follow.

Texas Super Kings

2025 finish: 2
Batting rank: 3
Bowling rank: 2
Bowler to watch: Milne has four wins in 7 on tops
One to watch: Evergreen Faf wins the tops at 47%

Squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Donovan Ferreira, Wiaan Mulder, Rilee Rossouw, Adam Milne, Nandre Burger, Keshav Maharaj, Akeal Hosein, Hardus Viljoen, Shubham Ranjane, Joshua Tromp, Milind Kumar, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Mohammad Mohsin, Calvin Savage, Smit Patel, Amshi de Silva, Abhimanyu Lamb

Possible XI: Du Plessis, Patel, Mukkumulla, Ranjane, Ferreira, Mulder, Savage, Akeal, Milne, Mohsin, Burger

Analysis: Texas should go close with solid numbers and a clear balance. They have the hitting bases covered and their bowling has decent variation. If all else fails just keep taking that Faf Du Plessis top-bat strat.

Washington Freedom

2025 finish: Runner-up
Batting rank: 1
Bowling rank: 1
Bowler to watch: Netravalkar is the top-rated homer
Batsman to watch: Steve Smith could be winning half of the tops

Squad: Steve Smith (c), Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Owen, Lockie Ferguson, Marco Jansen, Jack Edwards, Rachin Ravindra, Mark Chapman, Ben Dwarshuis, Andries Gous, Saurabh Netravalkar, Obus Pienaar, Nikhil Chaudhary, Mukhtar Ahmed, Ian Holland, Lahiru Milantha, Amila Aponso, Abhishek Paradkar, Yasir Mohammad, Asif Mehmood

Possible XI: Smith, Gous, Ravindra, Mukhtar, Phillips, Maxwell, Pienaar/Holland, Edwards, Behrendorff, Aponso, Netravalkar

Analysis: Freedom dominated last season, topping the group. but they then had a bad day at the office, losing the final. it was gut-wreching. They should be fired up to put that right. Smith comes into lead with Mitch powen making way.

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