Cricket legend Ravichandran Ashwin set to join U.S. league MLC - ESPN

One of India's all-time best cricket players is headed to the United States.

Ravichandran Ashwin will join the San Francisco Unicorns for the upcoming edition of Major League Cricket. Ashwin is the first former Indian national team player to play in the U.S. league that was founded in 2023.

It is a notable moment for the sport in both countries, especially given that cricket will return for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles after a 128-year absence. Ashwin, 39, recently played in an exhibition in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that signaled that the move could be a promising one.

«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.»

Ashwin is one of the most decorated players in international cricket history. The bowler ranks eighth in Test wickets. He is second in Indian history in that category and helped the country win the 2011 World Cup, its first win since an initial victory in 1983.

Ashwin also has a strong following on social media, with 5.3 million Instagram followers, more than Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (2.2 million) and New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (2 million).

Ashwin joins other notable international cricket stars such as former South African captain Faf du Plessis, ex-West Indies star Kieron Pollard and New Zealand's Trent Boult who will have played in America's MLC. Ashwin was previously set to join Australia's Big Bash League but was ruled out because of a knee injury that required surgery.

«This will be the first time he's played in a major global franchise competition outside of India,» MLC CEO Johnny Grave told ESPN." And for