Shreyanka Patil on trolling, injury and finding the motivation to continue
India cricketer Shreyanka Patil has said she refuses to let social-media trolling dictate how she lives or presents herself. After receiving criticism for posting a dance reel to Babli Badmaash Hai, she said she enjoys dancing, Instagram and dressing the way she wants, and sees both criticism and appreciation as attention.
More significantly, Shreyanka revealed how difficult her recent injury struggles had become. After suffering another ankle injury that ruled her out of the Women’s T20 World Cup, she told her coach that she no longer wanted to play cricket. She questioned why she should continue if injuries kept interrupting her career.
Watching Operation Safed Sagar changed her perspective. It reminded her that, unlike people in situations where mistakes can cost lives, a sportsperson gets another opportunity to return after a bad day or setback. That helped her rediscover her desire to play.
Her return
Shreyanka has been out of competitive cricket for around two months and will miss the upcoming Women’s Asia Cup. She has nevertheless been selected for India's Asian Games squad, with her participation dependent on regaining full fitness.
Since her international debut in December 2023, she has taken 34 wickets in 27 matches across ODIs and T20Is. She has also been an important part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, including their WPL title-winning campaigns.
The central message from her interview is fairly simple: the trolling doesn't bother her nearly as much as the fear of losing cricket altogether—and she has now found a reason to keep going.
A useful next step would be to look at Shreyanka’s injury history and comeback timeline, which puts her comments about wanting to quit into much sharper context.
