For 23-year-old Indian allrounder Shreyanka Patil, the feeling of walking back into a cricket field after nearly a year away was nothing short of cathartic. Picked by two-time champions Barbados Royals, led by Chinelle Henry, for the ongoing fourth edition of the Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL), Patil’s return marks the end of an exhausting cycle of injuries and self-doubt that had threatened to halt her meteoric rise.
Her last appearance in India colours had come during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE in October 2024, when she featured against Australia in Sharjah. Eleven months later, she’s back, not just to bowl offspin, but to rediscover her joy for the game.
Shreyanka was in tears before the Royals’ opening fixture on Sunday, but these were tears of relief. “Grateful to be back on the field, playing cricket,” she remarked after returning to competitive action for the first time since October. Against the Guyana Amazon Warriors, the numbers, 3 overs for 33 runs, were modest, but the emotional weight was immense. The turnaround came swiftly: in her second outing, she picked up 1 for 22 in three overs against Deandra Dottin’s Trinbago Knight Riders, playing a role in Barbados’ 59-run win and their back-to-back triumphs to start the campaign.
The Breaking Point in Shreyanka Patil’s career
The 15 months leading up to her comeback were laced with heartbreak. It began in July 2024 during a women’s Asia Cup clash against Pakistan, when she fractured the fourth finger of her left hand. She fought her way back in time for the T20 World Cup, only to later develop Grade 3 shin splints in both legs that sidelined her for months. Every time a tentative return looked possible, another setback followed: repeated shin pain, a wrist stress reaction, then a fractured thumb during an India camp fielding drill earlier this year.
“Initially, I was fine: ‘okay, I’m getting better, I’ll be back soon’,” she reflected in an interaction with FanCode. “But once I started getting injured again and again, I was like, ‘What’s happening?’ I didn’t know how to face my parents. I was blank at that time.”
The lowest blow came when she was ruled out of the Women’s Premier League 2025, where she had visualised herself turning out for Royal Challengers Bengaluru as defending champions. “Missing out on the WPL was a big breakdown for me. I wasn’t ready for it,” she admitted. “I went to Jemi’s [Jemimah Rodrigues’] place, and I just broke down.”
Finding Strength in Solitude
Away from the game, Shreyanka turned to distractions to cope, dabbling in other sports, painting, strumming the guitar, and even travelling to Wimbledon. She began journaling her daily experiences, a practice she credits for lifting her out of the mental slump. “Even if it was just doing my rehab at the gym, I’d write about what I was grateful for that day. That’s when I started getting out of that phase, and then I was like, no matter what, let me get as fit as possible and just roar.”
Her rehabilitation journey was often lonely, but she found camaraderie at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, where she crossed paths with the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Riyan Parag and Mayank Yadav, all fellow travellers on the difficult route back from injury. Sharing her stories with SKY stood out. “He just asked me to be patient. He always said, ‘keep doing your thing and everything else will come back to you’,” she recalled. “Talking to all of these people made me feel calmer, because I felt I was not alone.”
From Rising Star to Stop-Start Saga
Before her injury troubles, Patil’s career looked destined for a rapid upward trajectory. She had emerged as a breakout star in the inaugural WPL in 2023 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, then became the first Indian to feature in the WCPL in the same year. By December 2023, she had donned India colours in both T20Is and ODIs. A stellar WPL 2024 followed, where she won the Purple Cap and helped RCB lift their maiden title, cementing her reputation as one of India’s brightest young all-round talents.
And then everything paused. Falling out of contention for India’s ODI World Cup squad this month would once have felt like a crushing blow, but this time, she was better prepared. In some sense, her return to WCPL, where her overseas career had begun, is symbolic of restarting from the ground that first gave her global recognition.
A New Beginning in the Caribbean for Shreyanka Patil
“When I got picked by Barbados Royals after not playing for 11 months, I just closed my eyes and thought of the first year I played, and I’m like, maybe it’s just meant to happen,” she said. “I’m again starting with WCPL and then moving forward with WPL and India. I’m looking forward.”
Today, Shreyanka stands at a crossroad with a new perspective, more attuned to her body, more aware of resilience, and with an inner calm shaped by the battles she has endured. For the Royals, her role offers both tactical variety in spin and inspiration in spirit. For herself, this is as much about competing as it is about closure.
The cricket world will measure her return in wickets and runs, but Patil already knows the victory is deeper than that. She has endured the silence, the self-doubt, and the unending cycle of rehab. Now, as she takes her mark at the top of her run-up, the young offspinner from Bengaluru is ready, once again, to roar.
(Quotes sourced from ESPN Cricinfo)
I am Yash Tailor, and I believe work should be driven by passion. Therefore, after completing my Engineering, I chose to work in the Cricket industry, my passion. My goal is to reach a stage where I truly enjoy what I do and give my best to every task with energy and purpose.