From darkness to dawn: Shreyanka Patil’s tale of a magical comeback (Part 2)

In continuation to the first part of the story, here’s the second and the final part of how Shreyanka Patil turned it all, going from the darkest of days to returning to RCB in the Red and Gold threads. This story is that of believing in one self and harnessing the magic of it all.

Narrating the horror of a relapse of the shin fracture, Shreyanka said, “I'm like maybe I'm happy, spreading that happiness around me. I think I practiced for a couple of days or weeks, and then I started getting this pain again. I am like, hell no, not again is what I started telling myself, but deep inside I knew what it is. Because I faced it before, relapsed again, I was like, I am done now. I know a day has 24 hours, but I thought on those worst days, it felt like forever. I kind of shut the social media for some time. Every now and then I used to just post or just check out what's happening. I was like, I'm done with this, I want it to be over. And it was never my personality, it was never my character.”

Highlighting the contrast in her emotions during that dark phase, Shreyanka added, “If you ask any of my close ones, they all know that Shreyanka likes when people are around her. When there's music, when there's dancing, that's how everyone's seen me.”

Talking further she revealed how she almost closed herself off when the questions came in, stating, “Injuries happen and there is a sudden downfall. I couldn't take the fact that I would be missing a WPL season. And I saw myself being on Instagram page ruled out. Till then I was fine. RCB put a post saying get well soon. That's something which I never wanted to see. I always like to see myself like well done you superstar or here we go and all of that. But seeing that post made me so emotional. Like people started messaging me. What happened to you? What happened to you? And I was not in a stage to reply to anyone and explain what I was going through.”

Once again underlining the support that she got from her parents, Shreyanka said, “Because once the NCA people actually came up to me and told you are not a part of WPL for this year. I know how much they thought of me. I was in it. But I just couldn't take it. My parents again being very strong they didn't tell me anything. They are like it's okay. There is lot of cricket pending for yourself. But always they kept saying this line. But inside I was broken. Broken like into bits and pieces. That took a while for me to come out of it. Then I started recovering from that. Not physically but mentally I started recovering. I was enjoying.”

Then came the fracture. The thumb fracture. Shreyanka revealed, “I finished my fitness. Went really well. Fitness test. Everything went well. And then we had our first fielding session as a team. I finished one station and I had to hop on to the next one. I took a high catch. And I started feeling a pain on my thumb. And I went, I was pretty chill. I really thought it was all good. I went to the hospital with a very clear mindset that nothing is happening because I couldn't move my thumb. So I went there. The x-ray came out. They said from here to here. So I had a proper crash. Then I took my bag, my luggage from the hotel straight away to my house. And I said I can't do this anymore.”

However, the support that came in the wake of her thumb fracture was immense. Talking about it all, Shrey added, “I think I'm blessed to be surrounded with such lovely people. Aru, Jenny, Radha, Smriti, they were just there for me. It was like a bond. Like, whenever they used to come to Bangalore for a camp or a show or whatever it was, they used to just come and visit me. Just be there for me, not to question, how is your health still? How is your injury? What are you doing? How is your mental health? And if they're not in Bangalore, just a phone call or a message. Just be in touch. And Kanu has always been there for me for the past, whatever, years. I don't remember. So I'm very grateful to have them around me at that given point of time because I really needed them.”

No matter how dark the road gets, as they say, if you believe, there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel, and for Shrey, so it came. She added, “And then, of course, I let me give myself some time. Let me start from scratch. Get stronger, get fitter with my skills, mentally. And we put up a show in domestic cricket.”

She concluded by stating, “Again, playing cricket was something which I always enjoyed. So I was happy to just be there. All the drama onto a rollercoaster of a ride now. So I just want to take that as a learning, a blessing. And I want to close that chapter and start a new chapter again with RCB. I'm here wearing this red and gold. I'm raring to go for the season. Just have lots of fun. I'm restarting my journey with RCB. And I'm so happy and grateful.”