India’s Deepti Sharma will be the third Indian player to play in The Hundred after she signed for London Spirit as a replacement for Grace Harris. Australian cricketer Harris was injured leaving the door open for Deepti to come onboard.
This will be the third time Deepti will be a part of The Hundred tournament. She was a part of London Spirit set-up in the inaugural season in 2021 before moving to Birmingham Phoenix the following year. She, however, did not get to play any games for Phoenix.
Deepti joins compatriots Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh to play in The Hundred. Richa plays for Birmingham Phoenix while Smriti is with the Southern Brave franchise.
However all three Indian players will not be available for the first few games of The Hundred as they are on national duty at the Women’s T20 Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.
Australian cricketer Erin Burns will replace Deepti in the squad for the first two matches.
Meanwhile, England Test captain Ben Stokes is also set to make his second appearance in The Hundred. He will play for Northern Superchargers, being coached by former England allrounder Andrew Flintoff.
Stokes played two matches for Superchargers in the first season of The Hundred in 2021 but he has not been a part of the set-up since then.
Most of England’s Test players, who are currently playing against the West Indies, will be a part of The Hundred, as per a statement from the England Cricket Board (ECB).
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith along with Stokes have been cleared to play while among the bowlers, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Dillon Pennington and Chris Woakes are set to play with Woakes being available from the first week of August.
The Hundred commences on July 23.
