'RCB blood' Shreyanka Patil set to become first Indian cricketer to play in Caribbean Premier League

Shreyanka Patil (Source: Twitter)

Shreyanka Patil, the rising star of Indian women's cricket, is all set to become the first Indian player to play in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The 20-year-old is the first woman cricketer to be offered a contract in an overseas league even before making her senior international debut. She has been picked by Guyana Amazon Warriors in the draft for the 2023 season.

Shreyanka rose to prominence after her impressive all-round performance for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2023. She was the highest wicket-taker for the Bangalore-based franchise with six wickets and also demonstrated her finishing prowess by hitting 62 runs at a healthy strike rate of 151.21.

The youngster made headlines recently for her outstanding showing in the ACC Women's T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup, which helped India A win the championship. She was adjudged player of the tournament for taking nine wickets in two matches (7 overs) at an average of 1.67 runs – conceding just 15 runs off 42 balls. Her 4-fer, Mannat Kashyap’s 3-wicket haul and Kanika Ahuja’s all-round effort saw India beat Bangladesh A by 31 runs in the final.

The second edition of WCPL will kick off on August 31

The 2023 WCPL will be the second edition of the T20 competition. This time, there will be an expanded schedule with seven matches played over 11 days. The tournament will kick off on August 31, and the final will be held on September 10 in Trinidad. Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors and the Trinbago Knight Riders are the three teams competing in the 2023 season.

Caribbean stars Deandra Dottin, Hayley Matthews and Stafanie Taylor will be part of the new edition. Overseas players from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland will also appear in the expanded WCPL. Shreyanka will be playing for Guyana alongside Shabnim Ismail, Suzie Bates and Taylor, among others.

Indian men's cricketers aren't allowed to participate in overseas leagues, however, the Indian Cricket Board has granted permission to women cricketers. Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemima Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, and Richa Ghosh have all played in Australia's Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) and England's The Hundred.