Deepti Sharma pulls out of Women's Hundred to manage workload

Deepti Sharma clinched London Spirit's maiden Hundred title with a straight six in the final at Lord's last year but has pulled out of the 2025 season to manage her workload.

Deepti, the Indian allrounder, is in England for India's ongoing tour and has had a busy recent schedule, balancing international commitments and franchise leagues. With a 50-over World Cup on home soil looming later this year, she has opted to withdraw from her £36,000 contract in order to give herself a short break.

She has been replaced by Charli Knott, the Australian allrounder, and Spirit's squad will look significantly different this year. Charlie Dean will deputise as captain for the injured Heather Knight, while Meg Lanning has been replaced by Grace Harris and Chris Liddle has taken over from Ashley Noffke as head coach.

Deepti's withdrawal means that there are no Indian players under contract in the Hundred this year. The BCCI does not grant active men's players No-Objection Certificates to play in overseas leagues, while the women's players who have previously been involved either went undrafted or were unavailable due to workload concerns.

Elsewhere, Trent Rockets have confirmed that Ash Gardner will captain them this season. ESPNcricinfo revealed last month that Nat Sciver-Brunt had stepped down from the role to ease her own workload after taking on the England captaincy, and Gardner said it was "an honour" to take over from her.

In the men's Hundred, David Willey will take over from Lewis Gregory as Rockets captain, after Gregory was released and signed by Manchester Originals. Willey has spent the last two years playing for Welsh Fire but was a £200,000 signing at the draft and has short-form captaincy experience with Northamptonshire, Yorkshire and Northern Superchargers.

Each Hundred team will add four 'wildcard' players - two men's, two women's - to their squad next week, making signings based on performances in the T20 Blast. Birmingham Phoenix have secured an injury replacement ahead of the wildcard draft, with Nottinghamshire's Freddie McCann replacing Derbyshire seamer Harry Moore, who has a back stress fracture.

The Hundred will run from August 5-31 and is being viewed as a transitional season before the ECB hands operational responsibility for the eight teams over to their host counties and new private investors ahead of the 2026 edition.