The Chicago Kingsmen (formerly the Chicago Blasters) are an American professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that compete in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). The team is based in Chicago, Illinois. It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket. The franchise was owned by Iftekhar Shareef until the team's acquisition by Fawad Sarwar of the Kingsmen Global Sports Group. The franchise is currently run by Salman Abbasi and Mohammad Iqra Farooqui, with Khurram Syed also associated. The team's home ground is Kingsmen Stadium, located in Illinois. Pakistan international Fawad Alam helms

captaincy A captaincy ( es, capitanía , pt, capitania , hr, kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule ...

duties, while former Pakistani

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

Saad Ali Syed Saad Ali (born 5 October 1993) is a Pakistani cricketer who plays for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and for Sindh in the Pakistan domestic tournaments. He made his international debut for the Pakistan cricket team in ...

stands by as

vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the re ...

Franchise history

Background

Talks of an American Twenty20 league started in November 2018 just before USA Cricket became the new governing body of cricket in the United States. In May 2021, USA Cricket announced they had accepted a bid by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) for a

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1 billion investment covering the league and other investments benefitting the U.S. national teams. In an Annual General Meeting on February 21, 2020, it was announced that USA Cricket was planning to launch Major League Cricket in 2021 and Minor League Cricket that summer, but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and due to the lack of high-quality cricket stadiums in the USA. Major League Cricket was pushed to a summer-2023 launch and Minor League Cricket was pushed back to July 31, 2021. USA Cricket CEO Iain Higgins also pointed out cities such as New York City, Houston and Los Angeles with a large cricket fanbase, and targeted them among others as launch cities for Minor League Cricket.

Exhibition league

In July 2020, the player registration for the Minor League Cricket exhibition league began. On August 15, 2020, USA Cricket announced the teams participating in the exhibition league matches, also listing the owners for each team. The draft for the exhibition league began on August 22, 2020, with the Chicago Blasters releasing their squad on September 12.

Ibrahim Khaleel Ibrahim Khaleel is an Indian cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper for Hyderabad and former captain of the United States national cricket team. A right-handed batsman, Khaleel made his first-class debut in 2002. In 2007, he opted to participate ...

was later named as captain for the Blasters, with Fahad Babar down for vice-captaincy duties for the exhibition league.

2021 season

After the conclusion of the exhibition league, USA Cricket announced that they were planning to launch the inaugural season of Minor League Cricket in spring 2021. Ahead of the official season, which was announced to kick off on July 31, the Blasters announced Fahad Babar as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

with

Abul Hasan Abu Al-Hasan ( ar, أبو الحسن, Abū Al-Ḥasan, Father of Hasan), also transliterated Abu'l Hasan, is an Arabic ''kunya'' ('teknonym'). It may refer to: Notable people Politics and military * Ali ibn Abi Talib (600–661), the fourth ...

helming

duties. Throughout the group stage, the Blasters won against the Athletics once, the Catchers twice, and the Americans once. However, the Blasters lost once against the

Strikers Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, the

Grizzlies Grizzlies may refer to: *Grizzly bears Sports ; Sports teams named after the grizzly bear: United States: * Memphis Grizzlies, a National Basketball Association team in Memphis, Tennessee * Fresno Grizzlies, a Triple-A minor league baseball team b ...

and the Americans, while losing twice to the Mustangs, the Hurricanes, and the Stars. The Blasters finished 6th in their group, thus not advancing to the play-offs.

2022 season

Ahead of the 2022 season, Major League Cricket announced that the draft for that season would take place on May 12. Ahead of the official season, it was announced that the captaincy role would be shifted from Khaleel to local Blasters cricketer Ashhar Medhi, with Babar once again given vice-captaincy duties. Throughout the season, the Blasters lost to the Tigers, Hurricanes, and the Stars twice, and lost to the Blazers, the Blasters, the

, the Mustangs, and the Americans once. The Blasters finished last in their group, despite three of their games being washed out.

Current squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold.

References

{{Cricket in the United States Minor League Cricket teams Cricket teams in Chicago Cricket clubs established in 2020 2020 establishments in Illinois