Today we bring you a preview of Los Angeles Knight Riders as the second season of Major League Cricket is approaching super fast. The MLC 2024 kicks off on July 5th, with defending champions MI New York facing Seattle Orcas at Church Street Park in Morrisville.
Major League Cricket has been a huge help for the growth of cricket in the USA, following the successful inaugural 2023 season, which paved the way for the T20 World Cup co-hosted by the USA and the Caribbean. Recently, the league received List-A status from the ICC, making it an officially recognized domestic T20 tournament.
The 2024 season will feature 25 matches, hosted at Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas and Church Street Park in North Carolina, running from July 5 to 28. It has a slightly different format than the inaugural edition, with each team facing three other competitors once and two teams twice, after which the top four teams will advance to the playoffs.
Los Angeles Knight Riders, owned by the Knight Riders Group and captained by Sunil Narine, had a horrendous season last year. Finishing at the bottom of the table, they lost four games in the group stage and could win only once.
Los Angeles Knight Riders
LAKR had retained Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Spencer Johnson, Adam Zampa, and Jason Roy ahead of the 2024 season. They then added some quality players such as Shakib Al Hasan, David Miller, Rilee Rossouw and Martin Guptill.
LAKR full squad for MLC 2024: Sunil Narine, Jason Roy, Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell, David Miller, Martin Guptill, Jaskaran Malhotra, Alex Carey, Spencer Johnson, Saif BadarAli Sheikh, Unmukt Chand, Bhaskar Yadram, Ali Khan, Rilee Rossouw, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Gajanand Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Zampa, Nitish Kumar, Corne Dry
Los Angeles Knight Riders fixtures
Check out the full list of Los Angeles Knight Riders fixtures in the group stage of MLC 2024:
- Texas Super Kings vs Los Angeles Knight Riders, 6th July, 6 AM IST – Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas
- San Francisco Unicorns vs Los Angeles Knight Riders, 8th July, 6 AM IST – Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas
- Los Angeles Knight Riders vs Seattle Orcas, 10th July, 6 AM IST – Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas
- Los Angeles Knight Riders vs San Francisco Unicorns, 14th July, 12:30 AM IST – Church Street Park, Morrisville
- Washington Freedom vs Los Angeles Knight Riders, 15th July, 1:00 AM IST – Church Street Park, Morrisville
- Seattle Orcas vs Los Angeles Knight Riders, 18th July, 12:30 AM IST – Church Street Park, Morrisville
- Los Angeles Knight Riders vs MI New York, 22nd July, 6 AM IST – Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas
Key Players
Andre Russell had an outstanding campaign in the Indian Premier League earlier this year and he followed it up with a pretty solid T20 World Cup tournament. The Jamaican all-rounder starred for Kolkata Knight Riders, helping them lift their third title with 19 wickets from 14 innings at a strike rate of 9.2, and 222 runs at an average of 32 while striking at 185. In the recent T20 World Cup, he snared 11 wickets in seven games at an economy of 6.99.
Sunil Narine had a glorious season in the IPL as he played a key role in KKR clinching the trophy. Narine showed incredible performance with the bat as an opener, scoring 488 runs at an average of 35 while striking at 181, including one century and three half centuries. With the ball, the mystery spinner delivered terrific returns, claiming 17 wickets while conceding at just 6.69. The LAKR captain will have a big part to play in the upcoming season.
Jason Roy will be a key player for Los Angeles Knight Riders in the second edition, batting at the top of the order. If Narine continues to open the innings, Roy’s role will be even more crucial as a pace hitter. The Englishman has been one of the most destructive batters in the game, having amassed over 9200 runs in T20 cricket at an average of 27 and strike rate of 141. Roy has six hundreds and 61 fifties to his credit in this format.
Spencer Johnson, a promising young Australian fast bowler rose to stardom with his performances in domestic T20 leagues last year and went on to fetch big money in the IPL. The left-arm pacer has 52 wickets in the shorter format at an economy of 7.52. Recently, he played in the T20 Blast in England, where he picked nine wickets from eight games at an economy of 6.51.
LAKR season prediction
Los Angeles Knight Riders had an awful campaign in the inaugural edition but the upcoming season could turn out to be different. As per the bookmakers, LAKR have odds of 5.50 to win the MLC 2024.
Los Angeles will be delighted with the form Andre Russell and Sunil Narine are coming into this tournament. They also have Jason Roy, David Miller, and Rilee Rossouw in the batting department, which doesn’t look as strong as some of the other teams in the competition. In the bowling unit, LAKR have Russell, Narine, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson and Lockie Ferguson.
Overall, LAKR will largely depend on their star all-rounders Russell and Narine, along with the Aussie leg-spinner Zampa. If you wish, you can take a punt on them to win the tournament at 5.50 odds on 22Bet.
Narine was magnificent in the IPL with 488 runs at a ridiculous strike rate of 181. He is likely to open the innings in the tournament as well and you can back him to be the top LAKR batter.
Russell has taken 30 wickets from 21 innings in the last two tournaments. Considering his form, you can back him to be the top LAKR bowler in the MLC 2024.
- Indian Rupee as a currency
- Very Competitive odds
- Website available in Hindi
- Indian Rupee as a currency
- Very Competitive odds
- Website available in Hindi