The Hundred 2024 Draft: Harmanpreet, Babar, Warner Find No Takers As West Indies’ Players Go Big; Mandhana, Richa Are The Only Indians Selected

The only Indian players that found takers at this Hundred Draft were wicketkeeper batter Richa Ghosh and captain Smriti Mandhana, who led the Women’s Premier League to victory.

While her colleague Richa moved on to Birmingham Phoenix Women’s, Mandhana, who led the Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a WPL championship last Sunday, was selected in by Southern Brave Women’s.

Mandhana, who bats left-handed, had a strong run in the WPL, amassing 300 runs from 10 matches with two fifties. Richa, who often fills in as a finisher, scored 257 runs from 10 matches with a strike rate of 142.

Mandhana was already in the Braves’ locker room; furthermore, she had already worked here with Luke Williams before to his appointment as coach of RCB for the WPL 2024.

Richa played for the London Spirit jersey before switching to the Phoenix in the Hundred.

Nevertheless, a few other players, including the 17 Indian players who registered for the draft—Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Shreyanka Patil—were unable to find bids throughout the process.

The first choice in the draft, Amy Jones, an English wicketkeeper-battler, signed with the Birmingham Phoenix, while the Invincibles selected great all-arounder Chamari Athapaththu of Sri Lanka.

Beth Mooney was signed by the Manchester Originals, Meg Lanning joined the London Spirit, and Ash Gardner was signed by the Trent Rockets; each player received a 50,000 euro deal.

The most noteworthy development in the men’s draft was Jason Roy’s deselection when Oval Invincibles dismissed him from the team.

Players from the West Indies were considered favorites in the draft; Nicholas Pooran joined the Northern Superchargers, while Andre Russell and Shimron Hetmyer competed for the London Spirit.

Conversely, the Trent Rockets selected Rovman Powell for the 2018 campaign, while Kieron Pollard will play for the Southern Braves.

Speaking about Pakistani players, Naseem Shah was selected number one by Birmingham Phoenix, while Shaheen Afridi will play for Welsh Fire.

Before the season begins in July, each club is reportedly planning to recruit two more players to both its men’s and women’s rosters.