India women's team vice-captain Smriti Mandhana is set to skip the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) for the second edition in a row. Mandhana has not put her name for the inaugural player draft which is scheduled for September 3.
While Mandhana has taken the tough decision not to participate, captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Richa Ghosh are few among many players who are there in the list of 122 overseas players in the draft.
The list has a total of 18 Indian players. Harmanpreet and Rodrigues are eligible for retention by Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Stars respectively.
As per reports, the Indian opener too the decision to not just manage her workload but focus on the upcoming domestic season as well. As per a report by ESPNCricinfo, the 27-year-old might play for Maharashtra in the domestic season that will commence on October 19 and will go on till January 26. As a result, the domestic season will coincide with the WBBL which will run from October 19 to December 2.
The left-handed batter recently was a part of the title-winning Southern Brave team in The Hundred Women's Competition 2023. She finished the tournament as the sixth-highest run-scorer. She scored 238 runs from nine innings at an average of 29.75 including two half-centuries.
Before the domestic season, Mandhana will lead India in the Hangzhou Asian Games which are scheduled to commence on September 23. Mandhana will be the captain as Harmanpreet faced a two-match ban because of her outburst over a wrong decision followed by her actions in the post-match ceremony while sharing the trophy.
Full list of Indian players in the WBBL draft
Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur (Melbourne Renegades), Harleen Deol, Hurley Gala, Richa Ghosh, Mannat Kashyap, Amanjot Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Shreyanka Patil, Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues (Melbourne Stars), Meghana Sabbineni, Deepti Sharma, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav.
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