Chicago Kingsmen

The Chicago Kingsmen (formerly the Chicago Blasters) are an American professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that compete in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). The team is based in Chicago, Illinois. It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket.[2] The franchise was owned by Iftekhar Shareef until the team's acquisition by Fawad Sarwar of the Kingsmen Global Sports Group. The franchise is currently run by Salman Abbasi and Mohammad Iqra Farooqui,[3] with Khurram Syed also associated.[4]

Chicago Kingsmen
LeagueMinor League Cricket
ConferenceCentral Division (Pacific Conference)
Personnel
CaptainFawad Alam
CoachAamir Saddique
OwnerKingsmen Global Sports Group[1]
Team information
CityChicago, Illinois
Colours  Dark Blue, and   Burgundy.
Founded2020 (2020)
Home groundKingsmen Stadium[1]

T20 kit

The team's home ground is Kingsmen Stadium, located in Illinois.[1] Pakistan international Fawad Alam helms captaincy duties, while former Pakistani cricketer Saad Ali stands by as vice-captain.[5]

Franchise history

Background

Talks of an American Twenty20 league started in November 2018 just before USA Cricket became the new governing body of cricket in the United States.[6][7] In May 2021, USA Cricket announced they had accepted a bid by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) for a US$1 billion investment covering the league and other investments benefitting the U.S. national teams.[8]

In an Annual General Meeting on February 21, 2020, it was announced that USA Cricket was planning to launch Major League Cricket in 2021 and Minor League Cricket that summer,[9] but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic[10] and due to the lack of high-quality cricket stadiums in the USA.[11] Major League Cricket was pushed to a summer-2023 launch[12] and Minor League Cricket was pushed back to July 31, 2021.[13]

USA Cricket CEO Iain Higgins also pointed out cities such as New York City, Houston and Los Angeles with a large cricket fanbase, and targeted them among others as launch cities for Minor League Cricket.[14]

Exhibition league

In July 2020, the player registration for the Minor League Cricket exhibition league began.[15] On August 15, 2020, USA Cricket announced the teams participating in the exhibition league matches, also listing the owners for each team.[16] The draft for the exhibition league began on August 22, 2020,[17] with the Chicago Blasters releasing their squad on September 12.[18] Ibrahim Khaleel was later named as captain for the Blasters, with Fahad Babar down for vice-captaincy duties for the exhibition league.[19][20]

2021 season
See also: 2021 Minor League Cricket season § Pacific Conference

After the conclusion of the exhibition league, USA Cricket announced that they were planning to launch the inaugural season of Minor League Cricket in spring 2021.[21] Ahead of the official season, which was announced to kick off on July 31,[22] the Blasters announced Fahad Babar as captain with Abul Hasan helming vice-captain duties.[5]

Throughout the group stage, the Blasters won against the Athletics once, the Catchers twice, and the Americans once.[23][24] However, the Blasters lost once against the Strikers, the Grizzlies and the Americans, while losing twice to the Mustangs, the Hurricanes, and the Stars.[25][26] The Blasters finished 6th in their group, thus not advancing to the play-offs.

2022 season
See also: 2022 Minor League Cricket season § Pacific Conference

Ahead of the 2022 season, Major League Cricket announced that the draft for that season would take place on May 12.[27] Ahead of the official season, it was announced that the captaincy role would be shifted from Khaleel to local Blasters cricketer Ashhar Medhi, with Babar once again given vice-captaincy duties.[28]

Throughout the season, the Blasters lost to the Tigers, Hurricanes, and the Stars twice, and lost to the Blazers, the Blasters, the Grizzlies, the Mustangs, and the Americans once.[29][30] The Blasters finished last in their group, despite three of their games being washed out.[31]

Current squad
  • Players with international caps are listed in bold.
Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Year signed Notes
Batsmen
Awais Zia Pakistan (1986-09-01) 1 September 1986Left-handedRight-arm off break2022Overseas
Homayoon Ahmadzai United States (1993-07-18) 18 July 1993Right-handedRight-arm off break2021
Shreyas Ramesh United States (1988-11-12) 12 November 1988Right-handedRight-arm medium2022
Jay Patel United States (1996-01-30) 30 January 1996Right-handedRight-arm medium fast2022
Najam Iqbal United States (1988-08-10) 10 August 1988Left-handedRight-arm off break2021
All-rounders
Abul Hasan Bangladesh (1992-08-05) 5 August 1992Left-handedRight-arm medium fast2021Overseas
Mohit Patel United States (2003-05-29) 29 May 2003Right-handedRight-arm medium fast2022
Abdullah Quadri United States (2000-07-15) 15 July 2000Right-handedLeft-arm fast medium2022
Pankaj Kampli United States (1983-06-22) 22 June 1983Right-handedRight-arm leg break googly2021
Chiranjeevi Akunuri United States (1993-06-16) 16 June 1993Right-handedRight-arm medium2022
Fahad Babar United States (1992-02-19) 19 February 1992Right-handedRight-arm off break2021Vice-captain
Ankush Agrawal United States (1990-02-21) 21 February 1990Right-handedRight-arm fast2022
Datta Prakash Y United States (1992-02-27) 27 February 1992Left-handedLeft-arm off break2021
Abir Chippa United States (1987-08-11) 11 August 1987Right-handedRight-arm fast medium2022
Arjun Reddy United States (2004-04-26) 26 April 2004Right-handedRight-arm fast2022
Bowlers
Mohammad Waqas Pakistan (1987-05-15) 15 May 1987Right-handedRight-arm off break2022
Umair Mir Pakistan (1990-01-27) 27 January 1990Left-handedRight-arm medium fast2022
Zia-ul-Haq Pakistan (1994-12-11) 11 December 1994Right-handedLeft-arm fast medium2022
Kevin Philip United States (2006-02-01) 1 February 2006Right-handedRight-arm leg spin2022
Sai Daggupati United States (1995-05-21) 21 May 1995Right-handedRight-arm leg spin2022
Wicket-keepers
Aayush Thakkar United States (2004-07-17) 17 July 2004Right-handedRight-arm medium fast2022
Shaheer Hassan United States (1994-02-23) 23 February 1994Right-handedRight-arm fast medium2021
Ashhar Mehdi United States (1975-09-13) 13 September 1975Right-handedRight-arm off break2021Captain

References
  1. Thynne, Serena (March 31, 2023). "New world-class cricket stadium and training facility to be built in Chicago". WHTM-TV. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  2. "Minor League Cricket Announces Franchise Owners and Draft Owners". USA Cricket. August 15, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  3. Evans, Benedict (June 12, 2023). "Cricket in Chicago? New Illinois stadium announced". Stadia Magazine. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  4. Hays, Nate (August 18, 2020). "Minor League Cricket announces teams and owners list, draft on August 22, exhibition games tentative". Emerging Cricket. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  5. "Pre-Draft Selections Confirmed by 21 Minor League Cricket Teams as Draft Day Looms". Major League Cricket. USA Cricket. June 4, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  6. Penna, Peter Della (January 8, 2019). "USA formally approved to rejoin ICC as Associate Member under USA Cricket". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  7. Penna, Peter Della (November 27, 2018). "USA plan to launch their T20 League in 2021". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  8. "USA Cricket Chooses Partner to Fund and Develop U.S.-Based Professional T20 Cricket League". USA Cricket. May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  9. "USA Cricket Board Meeting February 2020". USA Cricket. February 27, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  10. "USA Cricket re-evaluating Major League Cricket debut timing due to Covid-19 concerns". SportBusiness. August 2, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  11. "American Major League Cricket tournament launch pushed to 2023 at Annual General Meeting". Inside the Games. May 24, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  12. Penna, Peter Della (May 21, 2021). "USA's MLC T20 tournament pushed back to 2023 at AGM". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  13. Penna, Peter Della (July 30, 2021). "Minor League Cricket: T20 league in USA kicks off with Sami Aslam, Corey Anderson in the mix". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  14. Penna, Peter Della (February 27, 2020). "New York, Boston, Chicago, LA among 22 targeted launch cities for USA T20 competition". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  15. "Minor League Cricket Announces Player Registration Opening". USA Cricket. July 7, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  16. "Minor League Cricket Announces Franchise Owners and Draft Update". USA Cricket. August 15, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  17. "Inaugural Minor League Cricket Draft to Take Place Today". USA Cricket. August 22, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  18. "Four More Minor League Teams Complete Squad Selections". USA Cricket. September 12, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  19. Hays, Nate (September 19, 2020). "Four new Minor League teams set for exhibition debuts". Emerging Cricket. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  20. Acharya, Shayan (April 6, 2020). "Lockdown diaries: What's keeping USA's Indian players going?". Sportstar. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  21. "USA Cricket Launches Foundational Plan". USA Cricket. October 15, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  22. "American Cricket History to be Made on Minor League Cricket Opening Weekend". Major League Cricket. USA Cricket. July 29, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  23. Bodiwala, Suresh (September 17, 2021). "Chicago Blasters defend title against Chicago Catchers". Daily Herald. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  24. Lyons, Joe (August 23, 2021). "St. Louis Americans are part of new U.S. cricket league". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  25. Pike, Jon (May 19, 2022). "Cricket adapts to changing post-pandemic landscape". Arab News. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  26. Bakshi, Sahil (August 14, 2021). "What is Major League Cricket? Why are Indian cricketers retiring early to play in MLC?". Times Now. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  27. "Title and Presenting Partners Announced for 2022 Minor League Cricket Championship". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. May 5, 2022. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  28. "Illinois player Fahad Babar at the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2". Eastern Eye. May 30, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  29. Patel, Smit (July 26, 2022). "Dallas Mustangs and Silicon Valley Strikers surge ahead". Cricbuzz. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  30. Bodiwala, Suresh (October 2, 2020). "Chicago Blasters cricket team clinch spectacular win against the Michigan Stars". The Daily Herald. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  31. Patel, Smit (August 10, 2022). "Minor League T20 Week 7: Teams tantalizingly poised for final round of league stage". Retrieved November 30, 2022.
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