From India to America: Dhiraj Malhotra’s Vision for Major League Cricket

By Moses Ochieng

Just before the India-Pakistan game in October last year, Dhiraj Malhotra, the tournament director for the 2023 World Cup, received a call from Washington Freedom owner Sanjay Govil, offering him a contract to join his emerging MLC franchise as the CEO.

“He just called me out of the blue. He gave me his honest and clear vision about his franchise. And he had me onboard within no time,” said Malhotra to the press.

Malhotra is a significant figure in the cricketing world and Indian sports industry, frequently involved in pivotal events that have transformed the game. Throughout his notable career, he has managed the historic Indo-Pak 2004 series, the first WT20 in 2007, and was the inaugural Tournament Director of the IPL. He later advanced to become the CEO of Delhi Capitals and GM at BCCI. Malhotra, often the right person at the right time and place, believes something special is unfolding in America as well.

“I feel MLC can be a game changer. I think if done right, it has the potential to really grow. And if you look at the owners, each owner in their own right has created a business or a sport or a legacy. And so it’s only fair that they’ve all come together and are trying to create something big in cricket and in the US,” Malhotra added.

A former army man and Shaurya Chakra awardee for his rescue operations in Kashmir, Malhotra brings over 20 years of experience in the sports industry. He asserts that it wasn’t the remuneration or the position but the nature of the challenge that drove him to come to America.

“When I was approached by Sanjay, he conveyed his vision to build the sport in the DC area. I was surprised to see thousands of cricket players over there. Everybody’s playing some form of cricket. We are here to drive a community building exercise through cricket. Much like other American sports. It’ll take time, I’m not saying it’s not going to be easy. And I know, it’ll be much harder than what it sounds but it’s realistic. We’re looking at building a home stadium soon. We’ll have a legacy to give back to the city and in the DC area,” he continued.

Besides cricket, Malhotra established the Indian Kabaddi League and has worked with the Indian Super League and the Indian Hockey League. He has found success with cricket in its most robust market. Replicating this in America would be a monumental challenge due to the limited infrastructure and underdeveloped cricket ecosystems in the country. Nevertheless, Malhotra is confident that his experience with emerging leagues positions him well to achieve cricket’s American dream.

“We’re going to get into academies, we’re going to get into anything that has to do with the community, be it cultural events or entertainment events, we will try getting the Washington Freedom name in there, and make sure that we become a household name slowly. Our aim is to be relevant 12 months a year so that will dictate our marketing and social responsibility plans. We want to get our players and Ricky Ponting out there in the community and let people be educated on what it takes to be successful in sport and hopefully one day we will have kids from the DC area graduating to play for the Freedom,” concluded Malhotra.