India's star batters Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues are only two players from the country to be retained by their respective franchises ahead of upcoming season of women's the Hundred tournament.
While Northern Superchargers retained Rodrigues, Mandhana has been retained by Southern Brave after showing their mettle in the inaugural season of the 100-ball tournament in England.
On the other hand, India's T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, teenager Shafali Verma and all-rounder Deepti Sharma have been released by their respective franchise. The three Indian players will be available for selection for other franchise in the tournament. The 17-year-old Shafali played for Birmingham Phoenix, Deepti Sharma for London Spirit whereas hard-hitting all-rounder Harmanpreet played for Manchester Originals.
Mandhana was impressive in her brief stint in the tournament as she had to fly back home to be with her family. The southpaw's 52-ball 78 against Welsh fire was her best performance of the season before leaving the tournament midway. Harmanpreet has been out-of-form of late but she was player of the series in 2021 edition of Women's Big Bash League (WBBL).
Rodrigues, who is not a part of India's World Cup 2022 squad, was destructive for Superchargers. She made headlines with her 43-ball 92. She scored two more half-centuries, averaged 60.25 with an impressive strike rate of 154.58.
Other overseas players retained by the franchises include New Zealand's Sophie Devine, South Africa's Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt, West Indies Hayley Matthews, Australia's Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy.
The fate of three released Indian players in the competetion will be decided next month as the eight franchises will announce their new signings on March 30. Also, players like Richa Ghosh, Yastika Bhatia, Sneh Rana and others can also get a contract on the basis of their recent performances.
