MLC returns for its second season, featuring world-renowned US cricketers for T20 cricket action starting on July 4. The 2024 MLC season will feature matches at Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas, and at additional venues to be announced soon. “Major League Cricket is thrilled to welcome Cognizant as our title sponsor, starting with season two of MLC this summer,” said Vijay Srinivasan, co-founder, MLC. “This multi-year partnership will help enable the continued growth of MLC and cricket in America as this new era in the United States for the world’s second-largest sport continues to bloom.”

“Cognizant is excited to support Major League Cricket’s vision, inspiring the next generation of cricket players,” said Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S. “Our extended relationship with MLC will help us create deeper connections with our clients and associates while giving back to the communities where we work and play through outreach and education to help invite historically excluded groups into sports and technology.”

MLC expands Cognizant’s sports sponsorship portfolio, including the PGA, LPGA, Aston Martin Formula 1 team, SailGP, and English Football Association, aligning with the company’s passion for sports, showcasing technology-sports parallels, and increasing diversity.

Six teams from MLC’s inaugural season will return in 2024, featuring returning superstar players like Rashid Khan, Faf du Plessis, Marco Jansen, Quinton de Kock, Haris Rauf, and Sunil Narine.

MLC’s 2023 debut season revolutionized American cricket, introducing world-class domestic T20 action to the US, with matches played in Texas and North Carolina to sold-out crowds.MI New York won the inaugural championship, defeating Seattle Orcas in the final, after a series of 19 matches featuring world-class cricketers and domestic talent.The league consists of six teams: the San Francisco Unicorns, owned by Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan; Seattle Orcas, owned by Satya Nadella, Soma Somasegar, Samir Bodas, Ashok Krishnamurthi, Sanjay Parthasarathy and GMR Group; Texas Super Kings, owned by India Cements; Washington Freedom, owned by Sanjay Govil, an Indian American entrepreneur; MI New York, owned by RIL; and Los Angeles Knight Riders, owned by Shah Rukh Khan.

The MLC secured $120 million in investment from a clutch of investors led by Nadella to construct cricket infrastructure across the country.

American Cricket Enterprises (ACE), comprising over 20 investors, promotes the league alongside Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Perot Group Chairman Ross Perot Jr., former WhatsApp CEO Neeraj Arora, and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Along with Satyan Gajwani and Vineet Jain from Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL), Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan are founders of ACE.