DUBAI: The moment Shreyanka Patil was brought into the attack against Sri Lanka in the second over, with the opposition captain Chamari Athapaththu on the strike, it felt like a calculated move. Athapaththu was due a big innings and knowing her reputation to find the way when her team needed it the most, India were eying her wicket inside the powerplay.
Earlier, in July, during the Asia Cup final, when Sri Lanka had defeated India, Patil was not in the playing XI. This was a challenge for her. With her fourth ball of the innings, she had Athapaththu back. Athapaththu pushed forwards slightly trying to be defensive, but all it managed to do was get an outside edge and Deepti Sharma was there in the slips to grab the catch.
Arjun Dev, Patil's long-time coach, watching on from the stands was over the moon. It felt like the duo of coach and his ward had planned for this and this execution was spot on from the bowler. "That is (preparing for the scenarios) something we take pride in is to prepare as much as we can," Dev told this daily.
Everyone says why do you have to practice so much? Why do you do that? That's what our job is. She always jokes that the off-season for me is like a season and during the season I'm actually relaxed because there's not much happening," he said.
Patil, the highest wicket-taker of the Women's Premier League's second season, came under the limelight in the first season when she took the wicket of Australian international Ashleigh Gardner. Leading into the maiden season, Gardner was announced the player of the Tournament of the T20 World Cup that preceded the season.
She was also one of the highest-paid cricketers of the season. In that particular match, the allrounder was going so well and scored 41 runs off 25 balls before Patil struck. A low full toss struck Gardner on the toe in front of the middle as she missed a flick after shuffling across her stumps. Dev believes that wicket changed Patil's career trajectory.
"We still watch the replay of that wicket and we're like wow. I think it was a small turning point in her career. She kind of made a name for herself as a death bowler. That was the perfect yorker she nailed when Gardner was going well. She was on fire. So I think she got Gardner out again with the Yorker against Australia. Both of us are quite proud of that whether it's Gardner or she has got Haley Matthews out thrice.
Meg Lanning twice. So it's kind of and I tell her to show it off. You don't have to be quiet and not talk about it. Talk about it. I don't believe in jinxing and all that nonsense. It's a big achievement to get Meg Lanning out twice. It's something special. We are definitely proud of Ash Gardner's wicket which was probably a little turning point in her career in terms of the confidence boost that she got," he added.
Late last year, on her T20I debut, Patil took the wicket of England captain Heather Knight. A straight and full delivery on off, Knight went back and played the wrong line as the ball hit her off stump. Dev was disappointed a bit in that wicket, not because he didn't love the wicket, but they had plans for another big name in the England line-up, Natalie Sciver-Brunt.
"It was still very disappointing because our plan before was to get Sciver-Brunt caught and bowled and she created the chance but couldn't hold on to the catch. It is something that we had visualised and practiced and we had said this is how you bowl from over the wicket and then come around, you'll get her caught in the bowled.
So those kinds of things when it comes off you feel great you know as a coach and as a player. It doesn't always pay off. Sometimes you get it wrong or the plan is wrong or the execution is wrong. But when it does come off I think it's a really good feeling because we've done it so many times now and she's doing spot bowling."
"Even if she's doing spot bowling the conversations are like you are bowling to Hayley Matthews now this is the field for her. And someone like Matthews if you're even a millimeter even off-tump is too much room for her. It has to be on the middle stump. For someone like Sciver-Brint, a good ball is a bad ball for her because she'll rock back and hit you.
So those kinds of things are something we keep working on, especially to these toughest of batters. And then you know have plans for everybody and be as well prepared as we can," he emphasised.
India's World Cup dream is over after New Zealand defeated Pakistan by 54 runs, but Patil has learned a lot in her first World Cup campaign. Just like her team, the best is yet to come. It's time to go back to board with the learnings from UAE. And given her hunger for learning, it is not going to stop anytime soon.