Jasprit Bumrah told RCB star ‘don’t fight it, just be in it’; guidance that eased recovery journey: ‘This is okay’
Shreyanka Patil missed close to a year of competitive action with a series of unlucky injuries, and took help from a source who knows a thing or two about that.
Shreyanka Patil exploded onto the scene in Indian women’s cricket with her performances in the Women’s Premier League in 2024: she delivered on her promise and showed her capabilities against the best in the world, winning the Purple Cap and playing a significant role in helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru lift the title that year.
For the spinner, things have not gone to plan in the following period. Expecting to continue her form and play a significant role in India’s plans at the 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 ODI World Cup, Patil was instead restricted to the sidelines, battling a series of tough injuries that kept her out of action for over a year.
For the 23-year-old spinner, it was as much a challenge on a mental front as it was about recovering physically: missing significant gametime and spending that period of time at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence wore on her. Luckily, she had the right person to reach out to at hand at the CoE, a star who knows a thing or two about battling injuries and bouncing back – Jasprit Bumrah.
In a media interaction leading up to WPL 2026, Shreyanka revealed the advice that Bumrah gave that helped her stay in the zone and keep the right spirit about her comeback.
"What he also told me was that this is okay, what you're going through, everyone will go through. You're facing this in a very young age. So just be in it,” said Shreyanka. “Don't fight it to just be in it. So that was a lovely advice from him, because he's also gone through a lot of injuries himself.”
Death bowling another area of growth for Shreyanka via Bumrah
Shreyanka missed the entirety of WPL 2025, but marked her return in some T20 games in Karnataka’s league and also the Caribbean Premier League, where she played a handful of games for Barbados Royals in September as part of the road to recovery. As she makes her return to the WPL this month with RCB, the hope will be to have the same sort of season as her 13-wicket performance with clutch playoff wickets in 2024.
For Patil, that includes being a frontline death bowling option, with spinners playing a key across phases in that tournament. "I had a few questions regarding bowling as he bowls a lot under pressure. I know he's a fast bowler, I'm a spinner, but I do bowl in the death overs too. So I wanted to ask him, how do you practice when it comes to yorkers?” Patil also mentioned regarding what she asked Bumrah, perhaps the foremost death bowler in the history of the men’s game.
"Is it like you bowl to batters, you bowl to hitters, you just do spot bowling? I had those questions. And then he came up with some brilliant answers,” said Shreyanka, who will have intentions of roaring back to form as RCB begin their WPL campaign against defending champions Mumbai Indians in the fourth edition of the tournament this month.
