Maiden T20 WC a learning curve for Shreyanka

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.

- KALYANI MANGALE @ Dubai

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.