Smriti Mandhana, the vice-captain of Team India, is most likely to withdraw from the forthcoming Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) in order to balance her workload. She is not included among the 122 players eligible for the first WBBL overseas draft. Mandhana is probably going to play in domestic cricket, which is scheduled to be held from October 19 to January 26.
The Senior Women’s T20 Trophy will kick off the domestic season. The Senior Women’s One Day Trophy, Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal Trophy, T20 Challenger Trophy, as well as Inter-Zonal One Day Trophy will come after it.
On the other side, the eagerly anticipated WBBL is planned to take place from October 19 to December 2. Additionally, the home season for India will conflict. In December and January, the Women in Blue will play host to England and Australia for one-off Tests and a total of nine T20Is and ODIs.
Smriti Mandhana and the Southern Brave Women won The Hundred Trophy on Sunday, August 27, defeating the Northern Superchargers Women during the final game. In the 100-ball tournament, she again shone with the bat, scoring 238 runs across nine games, featuring two half-centuries.
Mandhana was the Women’s Premier League player who was sold for the highest amount earlier this year. The captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore was purchased for 3.4 crore but endured a difficult season with the side.
Indian players in the Women’s Big Bash League
The WBBL 2023–24 draft will feature a total of 18 Indian players on its shortlist, including the nation’s skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and standout batter Jemimah Rodrigues. The two most recently represented, respectively, the Melbourne Renegades as well as the Melbourne Stars. Pooja Vastrakar, an all-arounder, last year also played for the Brisbane Heat.
List of Indian players in WBBL 2023-24 draft: Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol, Shreyanka Patil, Sneh Rana, Meghana Sabbineni, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Hurley Gala, Richa Ghosh, Mannat Kashyap, Amanjot Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey
Fans react as Smriti Mandhana opts out of WBBL to focus on domestic competitions:
Smriti Mandhana opts out of the WBBL for the 2nd consecutive year to focus on the upcoming domestic season. (Espncricinfo). pic.twitter.com/NYJmvIJqdh
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) August 28, 2023
Ye koi mens team ke player nahi kar sakte , unhe domestic cricket se koi matlab nahi hai
— Shankar Raika (@ShankarRaika51) August 28, 2023
This was a common behaviour 10 years ago in men’s cricket when they took domestic seriously ?
— Mr. J (@imjivesh) August 28, 2023
High time BCCI should stop Indian Women from participating in foreign leagues to maintain exclusivity of WPL.
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) August 28, 2023
Sad that the decision comes at a time when Smriti ended The Hundred season with 2,8,4. Completely contrasting to how she started.
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) August 28, 2023
Respect ?
— Shankar Raika (@ShankarRaika51) August 28, 2023
That's a very good decision ?
— Kapil Pratap Singh (@kapil9994) August 28, 2023
Great ?. ICT > money
— Bala??Rohit? (@bala45_rohit) August 28, 2023
This is what we call being a Queen!?
— ? (@Hustler4CSK) August 28, 2023
Yeh sab toh thik hain bhai but, RCB mein aane ke baad uski form dip kyun huyi Aaj Tak pata nahi chala!!
— Jalebi Baby (@jaleebibaby) August 28, 2023
RCB and Ash Gardner has Destroyed her
— Axciem (@AxciemG) August 29, 2023
And she played hundred bbl me kam paisa milra hoga lmao
— Raghav chhabra (@bb_raghav) August 28, 2023
