Hyderabad: Nicholas Pooran of West Indies and Glenn Maxwell of Australia have been given leadership roles in the franchise cricket soon after their retirements. Pooran announced his retirement from international cricket recently and will take over the leadership role at the MI New York for the upcoming season of Major Cricket League. He will take over the leadership role from Kieron Pollard.
Pooran had a prolific season in 2023 scoring 388 runs at a strike rate of 167. He played a decisive knock of unbeaten 137 in the final to guide MI New York to the inaugural title.
#NYC Fam, there’s a new commander in town - 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧! 💙#OneFamily #MINewYork #MLC2025 pic.twitter.com/CgCE5RfbY1
— MI New York (@MINYCricket) June 10, 2025
The left-handed batter continues to be a force to reckon with in the shortest format. He smashed most sixes (170) in T20 cricket in 2024 and had a stellar run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 scoring more than 500 runs in a season for the first time and also hit 40 sixes - most by a batter in a single IPL edition.
Pooran has captained the Caribbean side in the white-ball formats. However, his tenure as the full-time skipper in 2022 ended with only eight wins from 30 matches. He left the leadership role after the team’s first round exit at the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Maxwell also gets captaincy
Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who retired from the ODIs has been named as the skipper of the Washington Freedom. He will take over the reins from Steve Smith, who was leading the franchise last season.
𝗖𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝘅𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 is here to rewrite the script 💙🏆
— Washington Freedom (@WSHFreedom) June 11, 2025
🗒️ Glenn Maxwell will lead the Freedom squad in Cognizant Major League Cricket 2025. Steve Smith will captain the side in the two games he plays during the season.#FreedomExpress #MLC2025 pic.twitter.com/PsJxmVxzxx
Maxwell has scored 153 runs from five innings with an average of 38.25 and a strike rate of 164.25. The right-handed batter is known for his explosive style of batting and has been known for orchestrating carnage on the field.
In T20 cricket, he has accrued 10,425 runs with a strike rate of 154.17. They are the defending champions as they won the title last year beating San Francisco Unicorns.
