NEW DELHI: Gujarat Giants’ seam-bowling all-rounder Sayali Satghare reflected on her career, challenges and the evolving landscape of women's cricket on the occasion of International Women’s Day, saying that one has to keep working hard and have that faith in themselves if they really love the sport and wish to make a career out of it.
“Nowadays women's cricket has been on the rise, especially since the past couple of years and I think it will just keep on building from here. So, my only message will be if you really love playing the game, just keep working hard and keep believing in yourself. I guess enjoy the game because you start playing the game only because you love it and sometimes we forget that.”
“So, main important message would be to keep enjoying the process you need to do, all the hard work and there are times you would have struggled, but how you keep yourself motivated and keep enjoying the struggles, the hard work and the process too, that will be important to reach and achieve the goals you want to get, ” said Sayali in an exclusive conversation with IANS.
For any cricketer, tough phases are inevitable and dealing with failure is just as crucial as enjoying success. Sayali’s journey began in 2015/16 and this year, she’s became an India player when she featured in all three ODIs against Ireland in Rajkot earlier this year.
“The journey has been great with a lot of ups and downs, but I am grateful for everything that I have gone through, as that has helped me learn a lot of things about myself in particular. So, finally good to be here and it’s been great.”
“As a cricketer, there are a lot of challenges. When you're not doing well, how do you deal with that? How do you come back from sometimes the games where you didn't do well. So, just to be clear on what you want to do next and how you plan for coming back from a bad phase, you need to do a lot of hard work with good work ethics and maybe just cut off all the distractions. So, I guess that has helped me a lot to reach there, ” she added.
For Sayali, her family has been her biggest pillar of strength, as well as acknowledges the support from Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). " My parents have always been supportive of me playing cricket and I guess it's been their dream too - to see me play for India.”
“Also the MCA has been very, very supportive and without playing for MCA, I wouldn't have reached here. So, very grateful for all the support from the Mumbai Cricket Association, ” she added.
The past few years have seen a remarkable surge in women's cricket, and Sayali believes this strengthening the grassroot levels plus WPL impact are fueling the sport’s further growth. “It's been good to see that women are excelling and I think maybe we can start more from the grassroots level from the young kids to take up sports - maybe in schools or something like that and not just cricket but any sport that they like. That will be good for us.”
“Since the WPL started, the matches have been improving a lot because when we go back to our domestic teams, those who have played for WPL and with the overseas players, they go and share their experiences and whatever they have learned. Because of that maybe other players also now have the aspirations to play in WPL.”
“So, I guess they also start working very hard now onwards and it has created a huge impact on domestic cricket. So, before like when playing T20s, the average score used to be 120 or 130. But nowadays, you have to score 170 plus to win domestic games too. So, there has been a huge improvement in players, how they bat and the six-hitting abilities in domestic cricket.”
Leadership is key in winning a short tournament like WPL, and Sayali, who’s played four games in the competition so far, appreciates the calmness and strategic approach of her captain Ashleigh Gardner, as the side is now on the verge of entering the playoffs.
“It's been good. She's been very calm on and off the field and very clear with how she wants to take the team forward. Also, in communicating with all the players, she asks on the field what field they want, what plans do they have and what ball you are going to execute at that time. So, most importantly, she's communicating well and she's calm on and off the field, ” she concluded.