RCB Bold Diaries: Shreyanka Patil opens up on her cricket journey and how she turned into an all-rounder

In RCB women’s starting blocks of the WPL, there has already been a player who’s been an epiphany that has hit the stride hard and she’s proving herself both with the bat and the ball. Karnataka’s homegrown talent, Shreyanka Patil has been making all the right noises for RCB, and she’s announced herself on the big stage with some commendable performances.

In the latest episode of RCB Bold Diaries, the all-rounder opened up on her long journey from the murky depths of novelty to what now feels like a dream coming true. Opening up on what it feels to don the RCB jersey, Shreyanka said, “It’s a pleasure wearing this jersey and it also feels amazing to be a Bengaluru girl and playing for RCB.”

Talking about her cricket journey, Shreyanka said, “I started playing cricket when I was 8 or 9 years old. I was very young at that time and I didn’t know what cricket was then.” She had a special connection with the hanging ball story and elaborating further on that, she said, “The hanging ball story is highlighted now. Though it was my dad’s facility, I never got an opportunity to play inside the nets. He would tell me to play hanging ball and take catches. That is how my cricket journey has started, just hanging ball and fielding.”

She further said, “I love fielding now. Batting was not at all in the picture. When I started playing cricket, batting was not at all my thing. It is a very funny thing. I started as a pacer. I then turned into a leg-spinner that didn’t work. Then I wanted to do wicket-keeping that didn’t work and the last option was off-spin and it worked. One week before U16 selection, I turned into an off-spinner and I got picked for the state. I was like, that is weird but then that is how it all started.”

She continued, “But then when I met Arjun (Dev) sir, two or three years back, he said that I have something in me. Work towards my batting can be done. Those two years of my batting journey have been amazing. It has made me believe that I am a batter and after that playing at number 4 or 5 for Karnataka is a big takeaway for me. And now as you can see, I am playing that finishing role which I am really happy with. I have worked towards it amazingly well.”