5 min readNew DelhiMar 18, 2024 01:12 PM IST
First published on: Mar 17, 2024 at 11:55 PM IST
The first thing that strikes you about Shreyanka Patil, beyond her excellent skills as a bowler, is the confidence with which she carries herself. It made Ellyse Perry, the greatest allrounder the game has seen, gush about her during the first season of Women’s Premier League.
“To see her come out and bat the way that she does, but then obviously her bowling talent…,” Perry gushed. “She’s a real special star for the future. I haven’t seen someone like that of her age around the world for a long time, with that kind of skill and just attitude. So, that’s really cool.”
Fast forward a year, and Shreyanka has finished the second season with the Purple Cap as Royal Challengers Bangalore were crowned champions of WPL 2024 on Sunday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. With figures of 4/12 in the final against Delhi Capitals, Shreyanka shot to the top of the leaderboard of the wicket-takers’ list.
The journey there, though, wasn’t straightforward. It seemed she was coming down with the case of a Second-Season Syndrome at the start of the tournament last month.
2023 was a whirlwind year for her — going from a breakthrough WPL to impressing in the Caribbean Premier League, then earning her India debut during the season.
But, starting off WPL 2024 at her home stadium in Bengaluru, Shreyanka seemed to be off the pace. Four matches, just two wickets — and in the match against Mumbai Indians, a hairline fracture on her non-bowling hand.
“She herself would admit that she didn’t start the tournament as well as she would have liked,” RCB assistant coach Malolan Rangarajan said in a press conference.
“But she was the first one to come up and say, ‘I am not bowling well. What can I do?’ She came up with the solutions too. Yes, we chipped in here and there, but that’s her character. When you see people like that, you know that when there are crunch moments, these characters will stand up and deliver.”
Shreyanka missed two matches due to the injury, which apparently she didn’t want to, but put the work in during the enforced break. Malolan said they rented out a couple of grounds, made her practice on centre wickets working on different releases. She wasn’t able to release the ball the way she wanted, so Shreyanka put in a lot of practice with her coaches, simulating match situations.
Lanning scalp
And as RCB moved to Delhi, Shreyanka’s fortunes changed. She picked up 11 wickets in four matches in the capital city. There were two four-wicket hauls in there, both against DC. And in both matches she picked up the big wicket of Meg Lanning, the Aussie superstar falling Leg Before Wicket. In the Eliminator, she swung the match decisively against MI, dismissing Harmanpreet Kaur in the 18th over, effectively the wicket that brought RCB to the final.
In the title clash, after the game-changing wicket of Lanning in her second over, Shreyanka came back to clean up the lower order.
“There was something in the wicket and if there is some little turn, I would love to take it to my advantage because I’m a different beast when I see some turn on the wicket,” Shreyanka beamed during the mid-innings chat.
“After we identified and then brought her into the set-up, you could see that she was not behaving like someone of her age or her experience. She was above that. She was always in for the fight. That’s the spark you’re looking for. Everyone has the skill but it’s a dogfight which happens inside and you’re up for it, Shreyanka always had it,” Malolan had said. “She is just a warrior, especially to play with the injury.”
The warrior came to the fore when the franchise needed it. India indeed have a gem on their hands.
New Delhi: RCB's Shreyanka Patil bowls during the WPL-T20 final cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, in New Delhi, Sunday, March 17, 2024. (PTI Photo/Atul Yadav) 
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