Richa Ghosh, the wicketkeeper-batter of the Indian women’s team from Siliguri, will fly to London on Friday to play The Hundred 2023, another franchise league for women cricketers.

The 19-year-old will represent the London Spirit, a team participating in the tourney.

“She will leave for the UK tomorrow to join her team,” Manabendra Ghosh, her father, said over the phone from Calcutta on Thursday.

In 2021, the England Cricket Board launched the cricket league. Eight teams participate in the tourney.

For Richa, this will be the second successive year when she will be joining a franchise cricket abroad.

Last year, she played for Hobart Hurricane in the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia. The tournament is considered the most popular premier T20 cricket league for women cricketers across the globe.

Back home, Richa represented Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Women's Premier League. However, she couldn’t find a berth in the national squad that was recently selected for a series against Bangladesh.

“However, she never lost her focus on the game and didn’t give up her practice sessions. She is sincerely continuing them like in the days when she started playing cricket,” said the father.

Richa will be the third Indian woman cricketer to get the chance to play in this year’s edition of The Hundred 2023.

Harmanpreet Kaur, skipper of the Indian women’s cricket team, and ace batter Smriti Mandhana are the two others to play in this league. However, they are in different teams. While Harmanpreet will join Trent Rockets, Smriti will play for Southern Brave.

Manoj Verma, the cricket secretary of Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad, said after Richa was dropped from the T20 series against Bangladesh, the city's cricket lovers were upset.

“But she proved her mettle again by getting chosen for a premier cricket league abroad for the second consecutive year,” said Verma.