is set to be the most high-profile Indian cricketer to be involved in an overseas franchise league after signing up with Major League Cricket’s San Francisco Unicorns in the United States.
After retiring from international cricket towards the end of 2024 – a call that came somewhat out of the blue – Ashwin played a season of the Indian Premier League for his home franchise . But after a disappointing edition by his standards, the legendary off-spinner with more than 500 Test wickets called time on his career as well.
Ashwin had signed up for the 2025-26 season of Australia’s Big Bash League, but a knee injury that required surgery subsequently ruled him out.
The San Francisco Unicorns franchise is primarily owned by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan. The consortium also includes top tech honchos, mostly of Indian origin, such as Shantanu Narayan, Neal Mohan, Divesh Makan, Aditya Agarwal and Neeraj Arora, along with actor Kunal Nayyar.
Needless to say, the large Indian diaspora in a country that will stage cricket’s return to the Olympics fold at Los Angeles 2028 is a big motivation for having a player of Ashwin’s stature in a league that has had only three seasons so far.
Ashwin recently played an exhibition game in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“Just looking at the reception that the Asian diaspora was able to bring for that game just showed me what the potential of American cricket could very well be,” Ashwin told ESPN on Saturday. “It’s very exciting.”
A large number of top-level cricketers in the country and those who represent the USA are expatriates or those with roots outside the country, such as Harmeet Singh and Monank Patel. Three of the six MLC teams are owned by entities that also own IPL franchises.
“The fact that there is so much interest from the kids and from a lot of people who have come and settled in America and showing so much interest towards the game, I just wanted to come and experience what it is going to look like when we turn up for the MLC,” Ashwin said.
He is a major catch for the still-nascent league, which could help its visibility and profile.
“This will be the first time he (Ashwin) has played in a major global franchise competition outside of India,” MLC chief executive Johnny Grave told ESPN. “And for us to be the first league to attract a player of this calibre is a testament to how the league’s developed over the last three years since it was launched back in 2023.”
Ashwin recognises the significance of cricket finding a bigger foothold in the American market.
“We are standing at one of the crux points for the game where it is fighting and fighting to break free in terms of globalising the particular sport,” he said. “So I think there will be a lot of free will over the next decade in terms of how much people will want to engage and how many people will want to jump on board.”
