Meet Shreyanka Patil, RCB star who becomes first Indian to play in Women’s Caribbean Premier League

Off-spinner Shreyanka Patil was picked by the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the draft for the 2023 season, making her the first Indian woman cricketer to play in the Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL).

The WCPL begins on August 31 and concludes on September 10 with the championship game. The tournament’s 2023 season will feature an expanded schedule with seven matches spread across 11 days. Trinbago Knight Riders and Barbados Royals are the other two participating teams.

Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, and Jemima Rodrigues are a few cricketers who compete in foreign leagues. But before receiving contracts from leagues such as Women’s Big Bash League in Australia and The Hundred in England, they had already represented India. 

Shreyanka, who made her name for RCB in the Women’s Premier League, will be the first female athlete to receive a contract offer from an international league even before making her senior international debut.

Patil, a Bengaluru native, started her professional career with the state’s U-16 team and currently plays for Karnataka at the domestic level. The 21-year-old has taken the second-most wickets during the Women’s Senior One Day Trophy 2022–2023.

Patil made headlines earlier this year when, playing for Royal Challenges Bangalore, she grabbed six wickets in seven games, with her best figure coming against Gujarat Giants (2/17). She also scored 62 runs with the bat in the WPL.

In two completed games for India A, she got nine wickets, earning her the title of player of the tournament at the Women’s Emerging Asia Cup in Hong Kong.

Seven matches will be contested over the course of 11 days during the WCPL season of 2023.

The Guyana Amazon Warriors, Trinbago Knight Riders, and Barbados Royals will be the three teams competing in the 2023 season. The top athletes from the Caribbean, including Deandra Dottin, Hayley Matthews, and Stafanie Taylor, are represented on the star-studded teams.

Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates, and Fran Jonas, all from New Zealand, will compete in the WCPL in 2023. Australians Laura Harris and Amanda-Jade Wellington will also be there. Dane van Niekerk, Mignon de Preez, and Shabnim Ismail are more South Africans who will attend the 2023 occasion.