BCCI grants NOC to four women players for 'The Hundred'

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has often fancied the idea of maintaining the exclusivity of the Indian cricket players. In the same light, the Indian players have majorly been restricted from participating in any other domestic league.

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However, it is learned that the Indian board has provided a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to four Indian women cricketers including the likes of Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Smriti Mandhana, and Harmanpreet Kaur. All the four aforementioned players have been allowed by the BCCI to take part in the inaugural edition of The Hundred.

The Hundred was scheduled to get underway from 2020 but the tournament was indefinitely postponed due to the rise in number of coronavirus cases. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has now decided to host the tournament from July 21 with the opening clash between Manchester Originals and Oval Invincibles at the Kennington Oval in London.

As many as eight teams will be part of the inaugural edition of the tournament. The teams are Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Trent Rockets, Southern Brave, Welsh Fire, Northern Superchargers, Manchester Originals, and Oval Invincibles.

Also, the tournament will introduce the viewers to a new format of the game as an innings will comprise 100 balls with a change of end after every 10 deliveries.

Meanwhile, the BCCI is planning to postpone the fourth edition of the Women’s T20 Challenge. The development came after it was reported that the overseas players from various countries won’t be able to take part in the tournament owing to the travel bans imposed by their respective countries. Also, India isn’t a suitable venue to host the league as BCCI was also forced to suspend the ongoing 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in wake of the rise in number of coronavirus cases in the country.