This includes their best bowler of the last edition.
Mumbai Indians franchise’s team MI New York in Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 is set to suffer a huge blow in the upcoming edition. According to an ESPN Cricinfo report, two of the franchise’s star Afghanistan allrounders — Rashid Khan and Azmatullah Omarzai, will not participate in the MLC 2025.
Both of these Afghan players have cited the busy cricketing schedule as their reason for not taking part in this league. Rashid was a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 champions Gujarat Titans’ squad. They finished in fourth place this season after losing the Eliminator by 20 runs against the Mumbai Indians.
On the other hand, Omarzai featured for the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2025 Final which just missed on their maiden tournament title by a whisker. They lost the summit clash by a mere margin of six runs against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
The leg-spinner was the best bowler of MI New York in the latest MLC edition. He scalped 10 wickets at an impressive economy of 6.15. However, Rashid’s franchise finished the season in fourth place. They managed to win only two matches out of their seven fixtures.
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Notably, the 26-year-old has endured a lean patch in this IPL 2025. He only bagged nine wickets in 15 matches at an economy of 9.34 runs. Since his debut in IPL 2017, this was the first time that his wicket tally couldn’t cross the double-digit mark. Rashid, who is known for bowling economical spells, especially in the shortest format of the game, conceded 33 over-boundaries this season. This is also the most by any bowler in a single IPL edition.
Another Afghan pacer, Naveen-ul-Haq, has joined the MI New York squad. His fellow national teammates, Noor Ahmed and Waqar Salamkheil, has also joined their respective teams, Texas Super Kings and Seattle Orcas ahead of the MLC 2025.
Previously, the US government had imposed a travel ban on the entry of citizens from 12 specific countries including Afghanistan. Two other Afghanistan players who are set to represent the Seattle Orcas, Gulbadin Naib and Fazalhaq Farooqi, are yet to get their visas to feature in this league.
This 20-over league will kick off its third edition on June 13 with the opening clash between the last edition finalists, Washington Freedom and San Francisco Unicorns. MI New York will commence their campaign in the second match of the league on June 14 against the Texas Super Kings.
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