Five Indian women players to feature in The Hundred

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is all set to go ahead with the inaugural edition of The Hundred, which was postponed last year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Hundred tournament will feature as many as five Indian women cricket teams plying their trade for a number of teams.

All the five Women players including the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, all-rounder Deepti Sharma and batter Jemimah Rodrigues have been provided with the No Objection Certificate (NOC) by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to participate in England’s domestic tournament. 

Notably, India’s Women Team travelled to the United Kingdom (UK) earlier this month as they will square off against England’s Women team in a lone Test match followed by three One Day Internationals and three T20 Internationals. The India Women tour of England is scheduled from June 16 to July 15 while The Hundred tournament will run from July 21 to August 21. 

Harmanpreet has signed the contract with Manchester Originals while Jemimah and Smriti will be joining Northern Superchargers and Southern Brave respectively. Deepti Sharma will play alongside the England national side skipper Heather Knight for the London Spirit. Shafali Verma, on the other hand, has been included in the Birmingham Phoenix squad as a replacement for New Zealand star player Sophie Devine.

It’s so good to finally be able to confirm the involvement of some of the superstars from the India team: Beth Barrett-Wild

India’s veteran cricketer Harmanpreet is quite excited about her new venture as she said as quoted by News 18, “It’s very exciting that I’m going to get to play in the first-ever game of The Hundred. It will be special to make history, especially with a women’s match at such a big ground. We’ve played in front of some large crowds in India and it’s always a great experience for the players.” 

Meanwhile, Beth Barrett-Wild, Head of The Hundred Women’s competition, opened up on the participation of the England players saying that they are really excited to welcome a bunch of talented players from India. “It’s so good to finally be able to confirm the involvement of some of the superstars from the India team. They’re a hugely exciting group of players and they’ll bring a lot to the competition.

“I can’t wait for July 21, I can’t wait for the whole competition, and I can’t wait for fans to see these world-class players doing what they do best,” Beth Barrett-Wild added.