Smriti Mandhana opts out of Women's Big Bash League for second year in a row

A total of 18 Indian players have put their names forward for the inaugural WBBL player draft.

India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana will not feature in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) for the second year in a row as she decided against entering the inaugural player draft, scheduled for September 3.

India’s top players, including skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma and Harleen Kaur are part of the list of over 122 overseas players who have put their names forward for the draft.

While a total of 18 Indian players feature in the list, only Harmanpreet (Melbourne Renegades) and Jemimah (Melbourne Stars) are eligible for retention.

Mandhana reportedly wants to focus on the upcoming domestic season and also manage her workload with a busy international year ahead.

According to a report published in ESPNcricinfo, Mandhana might turn up for Maharashtra in the domestic season which will run from October 19 to January 26 next year, and coincide with the WBBL.

The WBBL is due to get underway on October 19 and will run until December 2.

Mandhana's next assignment for the country will be the Hangzhou Asian Games, scheduled to begin on September 23.

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.

(With PTI Inputs)