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The seventh season of the Hundred kicks off on Tuesday at The Oval, for both men's and women's editions. Indian players can participate only in the women's edition, and after India's failure to make the knockouts of the Women's T20 World Cup recently, some of the top stars will be back in action in T20s, again in the UK. Here's a look at the Indian players who will feature in the women's Hundred this season and who they will play for.
Smriti Mandhana (Manchester Super Giants)
India's top-scorer from the recent T20 World Cup will return to the Hundred after missing the previous season. In what will be her fifth Hundred season, Mandhana will turn out for her second franchise in the tournament after representing Southern Brave from 2021 to 2024. This time Mandhana will play for Manchester Super Giants, who will be led by Meg Lanning, and have never finished in the top four of the tournament.
Mandhana had won the title in 2023 with Brave and had her best Hundred seasons in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, when Brave finished runners-up, Mandhana had scored 211 runs from eight innings at 30.14 while striking at 151.79 and in 2023 she scored 238 runs from nine innings at 29.75 but with a lower strike rate of 133.70.
Richa Ghosh (Manchester Super Giants)
Richa Ghosh will partner Mandhana in the Super Giants line-up, just like they do for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the WPL. Ghosh is their second wicketkeeping option apart from Mia Rogers, and will play for her third Hundred franchise in as many season. In 2023, Ghosh turned out for London Spirit and in 2024 she had represented Birmingham Phoenix. Ghosh had had below-par outings in both seasons, scoring 62 runs from four innings in 2024 and 107 from six innings in 2023, averaging well under 20 in each of those seasons.
She fared better in the recent T20 World Cup by scoring 80 runs in five innings while averaging 26.66 and will be itching to do a lot better in the upcoming season.
Jemimah Rodrigues (Southern Brave)
Like her close friend Mandhana, Rodrigues will also turn out for her second Hundred franchise after having played three seasons in the past. Rodrigues will reunite with her Delhi Capitals vice-captain Laura Wolvaardt and head coach Jonathan Batty as she makes the switch from Sunrisers Leeds (formerly Northern Superchargers) to Southern Brave.
Rodrigues also had an underwhelming T20 World Cup with just 92 runs from five innings and will look to get back among the runs. In her maiden Hundred season in 2021, she scored 249 runs at 41.50 with a strike rate of 150.90 which helped her make a comeback to India's T20I squad but she hasn't been able to replicate that performance in the subsequent Hundred seasons. In 2022 she played just two games and in 2023 her nine innings yielded only 151 runs at an average of 16.77 and strike rate of 118.89.
Deepti Sharma (Sunrisers Leeds)
Ace allrounder Deepti Sharma returns to the Hundred two years after hitting the winning six to help London Spirit lift the title. This time Deepti will wear the Sunrisers colours in what will be her third Hundred season after 2021 and 2024. Deepti will lead the spin attack along with Jess Jonassen, another high-profile allrounder, under the captaincy of Dani Gibson.
Deepti had a stellar 2024 season when she smashed 212 runs to average a whopping 212 with the bat, while also taking eight wickets at an economy rate of 8.65. She returns to the Hundred after withdrawing from her £36,000 (US$48, 400 approx.) contract last year to take a short break in the lead up to the ODI World Cup.
