The Indian Premier League is the world’s first national-franchise cricket league. The league quickly gained popularity with talents coming from both India and overseas. In the same flow, there are many other T20- or franchise-based tournaments, one of which is The Hundred, conducted by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Basically, it is a cricket league held in the United Kingdom every year between the months of July and August for the first time in 2021. The Hundred is the 100-ball format, and it is the only one to feature this format. The innings ends simply when all the players on that team are all out or after the bowling has completed 100 balls.
Because this format only has 100 balls, there are only 10 overs, along with 10 balls in each over, so it shortens the game relative to Twenty20. Like the IPL, this league also invited overseas players to compete in the competition. However, there have never been any Indian players in this competition.
No Indian Players in The Hundred? Here’s the Real Reason
Each year, the Hundred occurs in July or August, and the competition starts on the first week of August, 5 August 2025, to be particular. It would have been very difficult for the Indian players to go out there and play as they had just finished their test series against England on the same date.
The Reasons
Despite this reality, the BCCI does not allow Indian players to participate in foreign franchise cricket leagues. According to its policy, the player is eligible to play in foreign cricket leagues only after he has retired permanently from international and domestic cricket in India, including the IPL.
The said rule was once cited by Rahul Dravid to have existed because of financial reasons. If an Indian player were to play in the Hundred, a few Indian viewers would tune in to watch that player, thus increasing the value of media rights.
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Dravid further mentioned that it was the right call, as that approach would increase the active participation of the player in domestic cricket. If they are keen on overseas league cricket, then they will miss out on domestic cricket.
Schedule Conflict
The new cricket season starts after every WTC final. The Indian cricket team’s schedule is then packed with Test series, Asia Cup games, and regular international fixtures. Having just concluded the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, the Indian team is already gearing up for the Asia Cup 2025.
No matter if The Hundred gets rescheduled, a Test series against the West Indies still awaits India. After this, an ODI and T20I series tour to Australia is scheduled, which will then be followed by a series against South Africa in all three formats. Allowing participation would add more pressure on the players, so the risk of getting injured is high with intense participation.