Back on the field after 11 months, Shreyanka Patil is ready to 'just roar' again

Shreyanka Patil was in tears before Barbados Royals' opening game of the Women's Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) on Sunday. But, unlike on the many occasions she has broken down in the last year, these were tears of relief. After 11 months of being stuck in what felt like be an unending loop of injuries, the 23-year-old was finally back, playing competitive cricket.

Patil bowled three wicketless overs of her offspin for 33 runs against Guyana Amazon Warriors. Not great, but in the larger context, the numbers didn't matter. Patil was just "grateful to be back on the field, playing cricket".

It's been a torrid year-and-a-half for Patil. To the extent that she had doubts about whether she would play cricket again. There were times she thought of just taking a long break to decide if she wanted to do something else.

The injury cycle began in July last year during a women's Asia Cup game against Pakistan when she fractured the fourth finger of her left hand. She recovered and was part of India's T20 World Cup side in October.

Patil played the entire tournament, but soon after, she developed Grade 3 shin splints in both legs. That kept her out of the game for three to four months. Just when she go through all the hoops and began training, the issue reappeared and pushed her comeback further away.

"Initially, I was fine: 'okay, I'm getting better, I'm doing well, I'll be back on the field soon'," Patil said in an interaction facilitated by FanCode, the official broadcaster of the WCPL. "But once I started getting injured again and again, I was like, 'what's happening?'

"I didn't know how to face my parents, especially my dad. I didn't know how to communicate with my close ones. I was kind of blank at that time."

That wasn't the end of Patil's agony. After the shin splints, she got a stress reaction in her wrist. She recovered and was part of a bowlers' camp with the India team earlier this year. On the first day, after finishing all her tests, she fractured a thumb during a fielding session. In July this year, she was initially named in the India A T20 squad for the three-match series in Australia, but was later ruled out.

Patil was prepared to "maybe miss one tournament", but having to sit on the sidelines for close to a year almost broke her.

"I wasn't sure how long I was going to miss cricket. I thought it was going to be about four to five months," she said. "Then I had to miss a couple of tournaments. And then they [at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru] said maybe a little longer. Whenever they said that, I used to break down because missing games is something I don't like.

"I used to go back to my room, cry, take out my anger and just... I didn't know how to express my feelings because that was my first time not playing cricket for such a long period. I did get mentally affected."

Before the series of injuries, Patil's career graph had been on the upswing. She was 20 when she made her debut for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in WPL 2023. The same year, she became the first Indian to play in the WCPL and, soon after, she made her India debut in T20Is and ODIs, in December 2023. At WPL 2024, Patil won the Purple Cap for the most wickets in the season as RCB lifted their maiden trophy.

Then it came to a standstill, and it shattered Patil, particularly when she couldn't recover in time for WPL 2025. "Missing out on the WPL was a big breakdown for me," she said. "I wasn't ready for it. I was visualising, I was manifesting that we're going [in as] the defending champions. I didn't see myself not being a part of the team.

"Day in and day out, after missing one or two tournaments, I thought WPL is the platform where I have to do well and win that trophy back. And then when the physios told me that I'm going to miss out, I was like, 'hell, no'.

"We had an awards function in Mumbai. I had to fly from Bangalore to Mumbai when I heard the news [about missing WPL]. I went to Jemi's [Jemimah Rodrigues] place and I just broke down. I didn't know how to react to this."

It took her a while to recover. She had the support of her India team-mates, her coach and family. To distract herself, she tried her hand at different sports, started painting, learnt how to play the guitar, made a trip to Wimbledon. She also started maintaining a diary where she would record her day-to-day life.

"I was just jotting down a few points. Whether I'm upset, whether I'm happy, whether I'm feeling nervous or excited, be it the smallest of small things," she said. "Even if it was just doing my strength session or just my rehab at the gym, I would write a few points 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, now I'm going to miss such tournaments, I've missed a lot of cricket, let me get as fit as possible - mentally, physically - and then just be back on the field and just roar."

During her rehab, Patil also spent a lot of time at the CoE. Being in and out of the CoE was tough. She would go in, get the all-clear, get injured again and go back in. But she embraced her situation gradually. She made a lot of friends there, notably Suryakumar Yadav, who was recovering after undergoing surgery for a sports hernia.

"Initially, it was tricky," Patil said. "Then once I started spending a lot of time with all the friends [at CoE], I got comfortable with them. I started sharing my own injury story, and they did too. SKY is such a lovely person. He was there for about one month or so, my last rehab bit.

"The conversations we had were amazing. We didn't really talk about cricket. It was about life, because he also faced a few injuries. He just asked me to be patient. He always said, 'you just keep doing your thing and everything else will come back to you'.

"He kept motivating me. When I was doing my practice session, he would encourage me, help me in the gym. Obviously, someone like SKY coming and talking to us makes a huge difference.

"There were so many people. Riyan [Parag], who had, again, gone through a lot. Mayank [Yadav], who faced so many injuries. He has missed out on a lot of cricket. Talking to all of these people made me feel much calmer, because I felt I was not alone in this. It became like a family, and yeah, I didn't feel like it was like a big 11 months.

"I started enjoying my rehab. I started enjoying each and every session. Everyone was encouraging everyone there and it was such a lovely environment to be around."

Patil is injury-free for now, and ready to make up for lost time. She didn't make it to India's ODI World Cup squad, which begins later this month, an eventuality she was prepared for. In a way, it's fitting that she is making her comeback at the WCPL, where she first grabbed headlines in 2023, being the highest wicket-taker.

"When I got picked by Barbados Royals and I'd not played 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, stuff like that. So, I'm looking forward."

After 11 months of being away from cricket, Patil now has a better understanding of her body, when to stop and when to push. She has sulked long enough and now just wants to "go out there, perform, win games".