Deepti Sharma, who famously clinched London Spirit’s first Hundred title with a straight six in last year’s final at Lord’s, has withdrawn from the 2025 season to balance her workload. The Indian all-rounder is now in England as part of India’s ongoing tour, but has taken a short break due to a hectic recent schedule.
Deepti has decided to break away from her £36,000 contract to focus on recovery and training for the 50-over World Cup, which will be hosted in India later this year. She has been replaced by Charli Knott, an Australian all-rounder. This season, the London Spirit will go through significant changes, both on and off the pitch.
Charlie Dean will lead the team in the absence of Heather Knight, who is out due to injury. Grace Harris has taken over for Meg Lanning, and Chris Liddle has replaced Ashley Noffke as head coach.
With Deepti Sharma departure, the Hundred will have no Indian players under contract this year.
The BCCI does not provide No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to active male players for overseas leagues, and some Indian women cricketers were either undrafted or rendered themselves unavailable owing to workload constraints.
Ashleigh Gardner and David Willey will captain Trent Rockets teams.
Meanwhile, in other league news, Trent Rockets have announced that Ashleigh Gardner will lead the women’s team this season. Nat Sciver-Brunt stood away from the job last month to decrease her burden after taking over as England captain. Gardner expressed her appreciation, saying it was an honour to succeed Sciver-Brunt.
On the men’s side, David Willey will captain Trent Rockets, succeeding Lewis Gregory, who went to Manchester Originals after being released. Willey, a £200,000 draft pick, has tremendous short-form leadership experience, having captained Northamptonshire, Yorkshire, and Northern Superchargers. He’s spent the last two seasons at Welsh Fire.
Each Hundred team is likely to confirm four wildcard additions next week, two for the men and two for the women. These additions will be dependent on performance in the current T20 Blast.
Birmingham Phoenix have already made a move ahead of the wildcard draft, signing Nottinghamshire’s Freddie McCann as an injured replacement for Derbyshire seamer Harry Moore, who is sidelined with a back stress fracture.
The Hundred will take place from August 5 to August 31, and is seen as a transitional season before the ECB transfers operational responsibilities for the eight teams to their host countries and new private partners ahead of the 2026 edition.
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