Ahead of the inaugural season of the Major League Cricket (MLC), the Texas Super Kings have confirmed that ex-India batter Ambati Rayudu will not be competing this year. Rayudu, who recently announced his retirmement from all forms of cricket, has opted out of the brand-new franchise-based league owing to personal reasons.
Rayudu was part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) side that lifted their fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) title by beating Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in May this year. His retirment announcement ahead of the IPL 2023 final had made him eligible to participate in overseas leagues. Soon after, he was named in CSK's sister franchise Texas Super Kings which will participate in the MLC. He was set to join his CSK teammates Devon Conway, Mitchell Santner, the Men in Yellow's bowling coach Dwayne Bravo as his teammate in Texas.
The Texas Super Kings will begin their MLC 2023 campaign against the Los Angeles Knight Riders at the Grand Prairie in Texas. The team had signed nine players in the initial player draft that was held in March 19 which included Rusty Theron, Calvin Savage, Lahiru Milantha, Milind Kumar, Sami Aslam, Cameron Stevenson, Cody Chetty, Zia Shahzad and Saiteja Mukkamalla.
Meanwhile, the team will be led by Faf du Plessis who has played for CSK in the past in the IPL but is currently leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian T20 tournament. He was captained the Joburb Super Kings in SA20, another franchise that is owned by the owners of CSK. David Miller, Daniel Sams and Gerald Coetzee are the other international stars that will be part of the franchise.
"We are excited to extend our long relationship with Faf du Plessis," said KS Viswanathan, CEO of Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited as per an official release.
"He led the Joburg Super Kings at SA20 from the front earlier this year and we’re confident of doing well under him in Texas as well. We are also happy to have signed Ambati Rayudu, Devon Conway, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo and Gerald Coetzee from the Super Kings family while also adding some exciting talent from the United States and around the world. The squad has a good balance and we will do our best," he added.