New Delhi: Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has joined the San Francisco Unicorns for the upcoming fourth season of the Major League Cricket (MLC). Ashwin, thus, becomes the first former Indian cricketer to be a part of the tournament.

Ashwin, who called it quits from cricket in December 2024 and then from the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the end of the 2025 season with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise, recently played an exhibition match in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as reported by ESPNcricinfo.

‘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.’

First T20 league outside IPL

Meanwhile, this would be the first time that the veteran player will be playing a T20 league outside the cash-rich league, with the USA trying it level best to become a big place for cricket ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, where cricket will make a comeback after 128 years.

Earlier, the former Indian player had signed up to play the 2025-26 BBL for Sydney Thunder, but got ruled out because of a knee injury which required surgical intervention.

‘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’.

The fourth edition of the MLC will start from June 18 to July 18 with the competition featuring six teams. Ashwin’s side Unicorns have never won an MLC title with their best finish being the final of 2024 edition, where they ended as runners-up.