New Delhi, Sep 11 : Ahead of Barbados Royals' opening match in the Women's Caribbean Premier League (WCPL), Shreyanka Patil was reduced to tears ' though this time it was more of relief.

After 11 months of fighting adversity due to a run-in with injuries whose end looked faraway, Shreyanka finally returned to competitive cricket in the clash against Guyana Amazon Warriors. Her figures read 0-33 in three overs, but the numbers didn't matter as she was back to doing what she loved the most ' playing cricket and being on the field.

What began initially as an expected brief recovery after the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup spiraled into the longest period Shreyanka spent away from the cricket field. After the tournament in the UAE, where India failed to enter the semi-finals, Shreyanka developed Grade three shin splints in both legs.

After a few months of rehab and recovery, the issue relapsed just as Shreyanka was nearing return-to-play protocols. Then came the stress reaction in her wrist and when finally, she was fit and fine in the bowlers' camp at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru in June, she fractured her thumb in a fielding session on the very first day.

She was initially named in the India 'A' squad for the three-match T20 series in Australia, but was later ruled out of the tour. Now with her finally back in action, Shreyanka's voice carried an honesty that comes only after emerging from a long period of uncertainty and a realization that she wasn't alone in navigating the dark phase.

'I mean, I am that bubbly kind of a person who loves to interact with everyone. So yes, since I was in there for 11 months, I made new friends, started hanging out with them, and began knowing their stories, be it cricket or their life. So then I realized, 'Okay, fine, I'm just not just alone in this'.'

'So many people are facing different kind of journeys in their own way. They're just facing so many things, just like me. So it became like a family in NCA and we just kind of started sharing each other's stories. It was a lovely environment to be a part of. Those people didn't really make me feel lonely.'

'Whenever I felt lonely, they were always there for me. So, it was again a big learning for me in not just being alone and keeping the door shut always. I just wanted to explore myself, learn something new, and come out of my comfort zone,' said Shreyanka to an IANS query in a virtual interaction facilitated by FanCode, the official broadcaster of the WCPL.

When describing the phase of being caught in a loop of injuries, Shreyanka's voice carried a rare vulnerability and a hint that a part of her was waiting to just talk about it. 'Initially, I was fine ' like okay, I'm getting better, doing well, and will be back on the field soon. But once I started getting injured again, and again, I was like, what's happening? I had that doubt in myself that will I be back on the field'?

'After I fractured my thumb, I didn't know what was happening. I just went to my room and I'm like, God, what is it? I didn't know how to face my parents, especially my dad. I didn't know what to answer to my coach who's always been there for me. I mean, he didn't ask anything, but I didn't know how to communicate with my close ones. I was kind of blank at that time,' she recalled.

Thoughts that followed in Shreyanka's mind were of the kind that athletes rarely speak about publicly. 'I was like, how am I going to get out of it? Am I going to play cricket? I had doubts. I was like, let me stop playing cricket. Why should I play? I had these doubts.'

'I'm not lying about it. But I did have such thoughts of, let me stop playing now, as I need a long break. I want to stop playing cricket. Maybe I'll go somewhere out, refresh myself, and then think about it, whether I'm going to play or not," she said.

Before injuries brought her career to a standstill, Shreyanka's rise had been swift. At 20, she made her Women's Premier League (WPL) debut for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2023. Later that year, she became the first Indian to feature in the WCPL before earning her India cap in both T20Is and ODIs in December.

Her bright progress continued in WPL 2024, where she claimed the Purple Cap for finishing as the tournament's leading wicket-taker and playing a key role in RCB's maiden title triumph. But missing WPL 2025 proved to be the breaking point for Shreyanka.

She had visualized defending the championship and manifested the trophy being back in her hands at Brabourne Stadium. Instead, she found herself watching from the sidelines as RCB took the field without her and failed to qualify for the playoffs.

When Shreyanka heard she wouldn't play WPL 2025, she was on a flight from Bengaluru to Mumbai for an awards function and completely broke down at Jemimah Rodrigues' place. 'I was ready to maybe miss one tournament. Then they said maybe a little more longer and had to miss another tournament.'

'Whenever they said that, I used to break down because missing games is something which I don't like. I used to go back to my room, cry, take out anger and I didn't know how to express my feelings because that was my first time not playing cricket for such a long period. Missing out on WPL was a big breakdown for me, because I wasn't ready for it.'

'Day in and day out after missing out on one or two tournaments, I was like, 'Okay, now I think WPL is the platform where I have to do well and again win that trophy back. When the physios told that I'm going to miss out on this year WPL, I was like, hell no, because I really wasn't ready for it. It took me a while to come out of that phase, about a good one month,' she said.

Apart from her family and coach Arjun Dev, Shreyanka found support from Jemimah, Smriti Mandhana and Arundhati Reddy. To distract herself from the monotony of rehab, she began painting, while dancing provided her solace. A guitar gifted by Jemimah on her birthday became another outlet for expression, apart from meditation, visualization and taking up an online course.

More significantly, she began maintaining a diary. Every day, Shreyanka would jot down points - whether upset, happy, nervous or excited, even for the smallest things and of gratitude as well. A note in her diary would also be about the experience of watching Wimbledon quietly.

'Those are the small moments which made me feel happy, and that's when I started getting out of that phase. Then I was like, no matter what, now I'm not going to miss any 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.'

'Whatever possible, I just wanted to tick all the boxes from my end. I was like, let me get better, no matter what. I just wanted to fight it through. Whatever it takes, I just wanted to do it because I badly wanted to be on the field. It was like 'No, Shrey, you have to. You are battling this alone and you have to get through it and I just did it',' she said.

Gradually, Shreyanka began to embrace the situation and even built camaraderie with fellow cricketers at the CoE. Apart from finding support from Renuka Singh Thakur and Pooja Vastrakar, who were recuperating from their own injuries, Shreyanka derived strength from India men's T20I Suryakumar Yadav, who was recuperating from a sports hernia surgery.

'He's 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 has also faced a few injuries. He just asked me to be patient and 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 and help me in the gym. Someone like Sky coming and talking to us makes a huge difference.'

Interactions with Riyan Parag and Mayank Yadav also kept Shreyanka going. 'Riyan who was going through a lot, and whenever I was feeling low, I used to go to such people and just say, okay, I'm not feeling that great today. They used to come and talk to me.'

'Mayank has missed out on a lot of cricket. Being a fast bowler, it's not easy to be back on the field when he had a back injury. So, again, talking to all of these people made me feel much more calmer because I felt I was not alone in all this,' she said.

The 11-month journey gave Shreyanka insights for a lifetime that no coaching manual could provide. She's learnt to read her body's signals, when to push and rest, to trust the process, and find strength in vulnerability. She held no bitterness about not being a part of 2025 Women's ODI World Cup squad, a possibility she had already prepared herself for mentally.

The 2025 WCPL represents not just a happy return for Shreyanka, but also the rebirth of her cricketing career. The purple cap she once claimed here back in 2023 serves as both memory and motivation.

"When I got picked by Barbados Royals and I'd not played for 11 months, I just closed my eyes and I thought of the first year I played and I was like, 'Maybe it's just meant to happen'. I'm again starting with WCPL and then go forward with WPL, India, and stuff like that. So, I'm looking forward and I'm just grateful that I'm back on the field playing cricket now.'

Shreyanka's return to competitive cricket has been a story of going from despair to hope and doubt to determination. Each training session, diary entry and every conversation during her rehab had small victories that built her way back to being on the field.

Now, with the ball in hand and enjoying the feeling of wearing gloves before coming out to bat, the tears Shreyanka shed before her first competitive match in 11 months weren't just of overwhelming joy. They were the tears of a warrior who had stared into the abyss and refused to blink for returning where she truly belongs ' the cricket field.

/IANS