Explained: How Is Mizoram's Agni Dev Chopra Representing MI New York In MLC?

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Star batter Agni Dev Chopra, son of film director Vidhu Vinod Chopra and film critic Anupama Chopra, on Friday represented the MI New York in the ongoing Major League Cricket, in what is unique for a player who plied his trade in Indian domestic cricket till five months back.

In the winter of 2023-24, Agni had broken into the Indian domestic circuit by becoming the first player to score a century in each of his first four first-class games.

Agni has scored 1804 runs in 11 first-class games, at a stunning average of 94.94, with nine hundreds to his name.

Agni has played in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, not just in the Ranji Trophy but in the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophies as well. To sum up, he played in the Indian domestic circuit for Mizoram in January this year.

On February 1, 2025, Agni won the BCCI award for scoring the most runs in the Ranji Trophy Plate Group.

MI New York then signed Agni up for the ongoing edition of MLC. On Friday, though, he fell for just five runs against the Texas Super Kings at Oakland.

"I would have still applied for an Indian passport and stayed if I had been picked in the Indian Premier League, but I am looking forward to my time in America now," Agni had told The Times of India earlier.

Notably, the 26-year-old was born not in India but in Detroit in the American state of Michigan. Hence, Agni did not require any NOCs from BCCI, like Unmukt Chand or many such players, to ply his trade in MLC.

Last year, BCCI mandated that a player required an Indian passport to be eligible to play domestic cricket in India.

Overseas players had played domestic cricket in India earlier, but they will no longer be permitted to do so.

Since Agni is ineligible to play in Indian domestic cricket anymore, he didn't face issues in signing up for Major League Cricket.

Meanwhile, in the game, chasing Texas' 185, were reduced to 24/3 within the powerplay. Monank Patel and Michael Bracewell then built a 97-run partnership for the fourth wicket, before the latter was dismissed by Adam Milne in the 14th over.

Monank and Kieron Pollard then added 38 runs for the fifth wicket, before the latter was run out by Daryl Mitchell. New York then collapsed and could only manage 182, losing the thriller by just three runs.