Sticking with the balance of six overseas players and five domestic players, here is DreamCricket's pick for the best XI of this year's Major League Cricket tournament. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
1 Faf du Plessis (TSK, captain) – Finished second overall with 468 runs (despite having played three fewer innings than the tournament leader) at an average of 52.00. He made one century and four fifties – thus making a 50+ score one out of every two times he went to bat – and finished tied for second with 27 sixes. He also took the catch of the season with a flying one-handed effort at Oakland Coliseum. He did all of this at the age of 40, having turned 41 on the day of the MLC Final. 
 
2 Mitchell Owen (Freedom) – The Player of the Tournament gets the nod over Matthew Short to open for a superior strike rate (194.40 vs 164.38) despite 47 fewer runs (313 vs. 360) and a lower average (28.45 vs. 45.00). No performance highlighted the importance of his Powerplay aggression more than his Player of the Match Award for 43 off 16 balls when Freedom chased a target of 214 off the final ball against LA Knight Riders. When you add his 14 wickets into the equation, Owen was an all-round menace. He wound up winning four straight Player of the Match awards (all of them in Grand Prairie) before cooling off in Florida.  
 
3 Monank Patel (MINY, wk) – The Bart King Award winner led the league with 478 runs at an average of 36.76 and four half-centuries. Often a slow starter, Monank was hard to dislodge once he got his eye in as best evidenced by his 93 off 50 balls against Seattle Orcas at Oakland Coliseum, an innings in which he started on 3 off 11 balls and then 17 off 20 balls before going wild to score 76 off his last 30. 
 
4 Matthew Short (Unicorns) – The allrounder kept the Unicorns winning momentum going after taking over the captaincy when Corey Anderson went out injured after three matches. He struck five half-centuries in just eight innings, ending tied for fourth with 360 runs. Just as important were his handy offspin contributions, twice taking a three-for. He also claimed three Player of the Match awards, second only to Owen in the tournament. 
 
5 Kieron Pollard (MINY) – The 38-year-old was instrumental in keeping MINY’s playoff hopes afloat with a Player of the Match performance during a six-run win over LA Knight Riders in Florida when he made 50 off 36 balls after entering at 63 for 4 before taking 1 for 12 off two overs, with the second over in that sequence coming at a crucial time in the 19^th. He claimed another Player of the Match performance in the semifinal against TSK for his 47 not out off 22 balls. On the season, he finished eighth overall with 317 runs at an average of 39.62 and also claimed six wickets. 
 
6 Shubham Ranjane (TSK) – After being surprisingly cut by Seattle Orcas, TSK wisely scooped him up in the domestic player draft and he rewarded them with a superb season. Ranjane finished with 268 runs in eight innings at an average of 67.00 and a strike rate of 160.47. He formed a devastating finishing combo with Donovan Ferreira, who at times overshadowed Ranjane. But Ranjane is impossible to ignore for one of the five domestic slots.
 
7 Hassan Khan (Unicorns) – The 2024 Bart King Award winner put in another impressive allround campaign. With the bat, he scored 225 runs at an average of 28.12. Though he did not make a half-century, his strike rate of 187.50 made him a momentum-shifter in the same manner as Owen. A great example of this was his 40 off 25 balls entering at 19 for 3 in the Powerplay to put Unicorns back into the match for what turned into an eventual one-run win over TSK in Florida. He made a similar impact when he entered at 42 for 4 at the end of the Powerplay and bashed 43 off 17 balls during a successful chase of 183 in California against MINY. His finest bowling performance of the season was also the most heartbreaking one, when he claimed 4 for 15 off his first three overs in the Playoff Eliminator against MINY only to see Trent Boult hit him for two sixes in the 19^th over as MINY escaped with a two-wicket win.
 
8 Xavier Bartlett (Unicorns) – The 26-year-old Aussie gets the nod over teammate Haris Rauf not only because he finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 18, but also because he made some handy contributions with the bat. Bartlett scooped up a Player of the Match award early in the season when he made 59 not out off 25 balls at No. 8 to get Unicorns over the line by three wickets against MINY. In the semifinal against MINY, he kept Unicorns in the contest with his 44 off 24 balls after Unicorns were floundering at 42 for 6 in the ninth over. 
 
9 Trent Boult (MINY) – After a sedate start to the season, Boult turned it on when it mattered. He claimed 4 for 17 in a Player of the Match performance during a must-win game against LA Knight Riders in Florida. In the semifinal against TSK, his devastating new-ball spell left the hosts reeling at 16 for 5 as he ended with 2 for 19 and then sealed Player of the Match honors when he struck Hassan Khan for two sixes in the 19^th over. In the final, he struck twice in the first over of the Freedom’s chase to set them back. The 35-year-old finished the season tied for third with 15 wickets at an average of 25.60 and an economy of 8.00.
 
10 Ian Holland (Freedom) – Though Hassan and Short are the two players bowling genuine spin in this side, Holland was doing so in a manner of sorts to keep opposition batting sides flummoxed. Listed as a medium pace allrounder, Holland bowled pace off for the overwhelming majority of his deliveries and did so with brilliant results. He claimed Player of the Match honors in Freedom’s second match in California for his spell of 4 for 19 against Seattle Orcas, locking in his place in the XI for the rest of the season. He ended tied for 10^th with 11 wickets at an average of 16.63 and a 7.32 economy. 
 
11 Rushil Ugarkar (MINY) – The U23 Rising Star Award winner finished the tournament with a superb playoff run, claiming 7 for 82 in three elimination matches capped by his Player of the Match performance in the tournament final when he claimed 2 for 32 and won a memorable head-to-head showdown against Freedom captain Glenn Maxwell in the final over. For the season, he tied with Holland for 10^th overall taking 11 wickets at an average of 21.36 with an 8.98 economy rate.