Sayali Satghare: Inspired by Ellyse Perry and Virat Kohli, now in RCB colours

RCB announced Sayali Satghare as a replacement player for Ellyse Perry, who will be missing out on WPL 2026 due to personal reasons.

Satghare, who will be donning the RCB threads for the upcoming WPL edition, has been a significant phenomenon in domestic cricket. An all-rounder who is known for her quick learnings, she idolizes Virat Kohli for his work ethics and the Aussie legend whom she will be replacing in WPL 2026, Ellyse Perry.

Satghare stepped into the hallowed WPL echelons in 2024 after Kashvee Gautam was ruled out with an injury. Satghare made her WPL debut in a bizarre way, coming on as a concussion substitute for Dayalan Hemalatha at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Incidentally, she will once again be playing alongside her for RCB in the upcoming edition of the tournament.

However, she got more gametime in the following edition and registered her first wicket, which coincidentally was none other than Ellyse Perry. Stepping in the boots of Pez will definitely be a massive challenge for Satghare but the 25-year-old all-rounder has proven that she can step up to any task, irrespective of the fact that how daunting it can be.

Sayali made her international debut in 2025, playing against Ireland in Rajkot. Back in 2024, she was a part of the Indian squad that was playing against New Zealand but didn’t get a chance to feature in the playing XI. However, Sayali continued to impress in the domestic circuit ever since she got her first cap in 2015. Consistently being a part of the Mumbai side in List A cricket, Sayali stormed into the state T20 side as well in 2019-20.

The 2023-24 One Day Trophy was pivotal for Sayali as she amassed 260 runs from just seven games at a stunning average of 52. She also registered an unbeaten 100 off just 77 balls against Arunachal Pradesh at the Air Force Complex ground in Palam II.

In an earlier interview with India Today, Sayali opened up on why she holds Virat Kohli and Ellyse Perry in the highest of regards, stating, “It was always Ellyse Perry, and now I’ve taken her wicket. Apart from that, I really like Virat Kohli because of his work ethic and self-belief, which really inspires me.”

She also dropped a quick snippet about how she prepared for the challenges ahead, adding, “More of my focus has been on execution and understanding what the situation demands, whether I need to bowl bouncers or slower deliveries. Over the last six months, it’s mostly been about execution. And as for any special training I’ve done to improve my batting, I’ve been working on power hitting drills, holding the shape while hitting heavy balls, and things like that.”

Satghare will be raring to go for RCB as Smriti Mandhana and company will be hoping to replicate the exploits of the 2023-24 season, in which they landed their first WPL trophy.