Shreyanka Patil's Injury Battle: Missing World Cup Glory & Bumrah's Advice

Shreyanka, a part of RCB's 2024 WPL winning squad, will mark her return to WPL this season, having been retained by the Red and Gold franchise. After last featuring in Indian colours back in 2024 and being ruled out due to injury, the 23-year-old started building her workload by featuring for Barbados Royals Women in the Caribbean Premier League (WPL) in September last year, taking just a wicket in five appearances.

She has represented India in 16 T20Is, taking 20 wickets at an average of 19.20 and taking five wickets in three ODIs.

Throughout all this time, Shreyanka, 23, had been in Bengaluru's Centre of Excellence, doing her rehab to recover from multiple injuries. Shreyanka faced a hard time away from the game as what she expected to be a short layoff turned out to be a layoff lasting over a year, as she faced shin splints, a wrist injury and finally, a fracture in her left thumb just when she was returning to full fitness in the middle of 2025.

Physical pain was not perhaps as painful as the mental pain of having missed so much game time. The top wicket-taker in the WPL 2024 with 13 scalps, including a four-fer in the final, Shreyanka had to watch RCB struggle from the sidelines, and the hardest thing to come to terms with was the fact she had to miss the ODI World Cup last year, which saw the India women's team capture their first-ever world title. There was agony for both, not being able to help RCB in the time of need and not being a part of the World Cup glory.

Shreyanka, reflecting on her time away from the game, said, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, "I thought it was just a one-off injury. I felt I would be back in two or three months. I never imagined I would not be on the field for more than a year."

"Once I started missing tournaments back to back, and then missing out on WPL, that was a big blow for me. Missing the World Cup hurt a lot. As a cricketer, you always want to lift that trophy," she added.

Despite all the mental struggles and pain of missing major competitions, Shreyanka had one big positive: a chat with Indian superstar pacer Jasprit Bumrah at CoE about bowling under pressure and dealing with injuries.

"I had so many questions. About bowling under pressure, about practising yorkers. Even though he is a fast bowler and I am a spinner, I bowl at the death too. He told me, 'this is okay, everyone goes through it.' He said I am facing it at a young age, so 'do not fight it. Just be in it," she recalled.

Initially staying isolated and barely talking to anyone, it was chats with Indian all-rounder Riyan Parag, pace sensation Mayank Yadav and Indian women cricket stars Asha Sobhana and Amanjot Kaur which helped her realise she "was not alone."

"I wa not talking to anyone at the start. I locked myself in a room for two or three months," she said. "That was not me. I am usually very bubbly. But talking to people made me realise I was not alone," he added.

Shreyanka was also blown away and left speechless by the trust RCB management had shown in her, with the head coach Malolan Rangarajan ringing her up last year about her retention in the squad, despite the fact she had missed out on a lot of game time".

"No words can describe how I felt," Shreyanka said. "Someone who has not played for 13 or 14 months, and they still trust you and say, 'We'll back you because your skill is up there'...it gives so much confidence," she said.

Shreyanka said that before the retention, she would "overthink" about scenarios of possibly not being retained and would cry.

"I was overthinking before that. 'What if I am not retained, which team will I play for?' All those thoughts were there. After the call, I rang Arjun [Dev, her personal coach] sir and just started crying. I did not even know what I was feeling. It was just so much love and belief," she added.

RCB will kick off their WPL season on Friday at Navi Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium.

- ANI