<p>Ahead of the second season of Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States, Australian batting veteran Ricky Ponting was appointed head coach of the Washington Freedom team on Wednesday.</p>
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<p>Ponting, who is now the head coach of the Delhi Capitals of the Indian Premier League, inked a two-year contract with Sanjay Govil, an Indian-American businessman, who owns the Washington Freedom.</p>
<p>Ponting, another very successful former captain of Australia, took over as head coach of the Washington, DC-based team from fellow countryman Greg Shipperd.</p>
<p>A few days after the June T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies, six teams will participate in the T20 League’s second season, which is scheduled to begin in July.</p>
<p>“I’m thrilled to be a part of the Washington Freedom in 2024. I’m excited to be a part of Major League Cricket because cricket is truly growing in the US,” Ponting said in a release.</p>
<p>Given that the IPL club had ownership holdings in the MLC side, Ponting said he asked the owners of the Delhi Capitals whether they had any concerns about his assuming the helm of the Washington Freedom.</p>
<p>According to the “Sydney Morning Herald,” Ponting said, “When I was first approached, the first thing I did was actually get on the phone to Delhi and see if they had any issue with it.”</p>
<p>Delhi Capitals was OK, despite owning a little stake in one of the other clubs. It’s fantastic that they had no problems with me at all.</p>
<p>GMR Group, a co-owner of the Delhi Capitals, also has stock in the Seattle Orcas, an MLC team. The other owner of the Seattle-based team is Satya Nadella, the chief executive officer of Microsoft.</p>
<p>Some of Australia’s best players were said to be interested in competing in the MLC. Last year, Cricket New South Wales joined the Washington Freedom in a high-performance relationship.</p>
<p>Ponting, who has previously coached the Mumbai Indians of the IPL, said, “My job now, with the relationships I’ve had with some of these guys, hopefully those relationships and the right amount of money is enough to bring them to the Freedom.”</p>
<p>“Despite the IPL ownership model as it currently exists, I believe there is enormous potential and growth possibilities in the US. I just think it has the potential to become extremely large, and I want to be a part of that journey along the way.”</p>
<p>The MLC teams are owned by the same people that control the Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, and Kolkata Knight Riders. The owners of four of the six clubs in the American T20 league are IPL players.</p>
Ricky Ponting has been named the Washington Freedom’s head coach in the MLC
