Mysore Warriors captain Shubha Satheesh reflects on Maharani Trophy finish and learning to bat from her heroes

Bengaluru

For Shubha Satheesh, this year’s Maharani Trophy ended on a mixed note with her team Mysore Warriors being beaten in the final but herself finishing with the Orange Cap with 362 runs. The Mysuru native said that the campaign had many positives even with the loss in the final. “There's a lot of positives to take away from this edition, especially the way the KSCA organized it this time. woman from Mysuru to play for India and one of the few cricketers from Mysuru to do so, the others being Javagal Srinath and B.S. Chandrashekhar. She was also part of the squad that brought Royal Challengers Bengaluru its first trophy, winning the first edition of the WPL in 2024.

It was a very good exposure for all of us. Especially under the lights as most of the domestic cricketers won't have been exposed to play under floodlights so much. The crowd we got in and just to experience that franchise crick et, it was great to have a tournament like this. Obviously, second time runner up, the team put in a lot of hard work into it and it was a great team effort in the end,” she said. Shubha’s career thus far has been one of many firsts. She was the first “It was such a great experience just to be with such great players in the side, first of all. Smriti Man dhana, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine, a lot of great players in that side.

So, got to learn a lot of things, just observing the game,” she recalled. Shubha had shown promise since she was young and, in stereotypical fashion, playing in the street. Her sporting journey took off after she enrolled in a cricket club in Bengaluru. “The journey obviously goes a decade back. I started playing gully cricket in Mysuru. Somebody told my father that there is women's cricket existing and then we started training in Bengaluru every weekend. That's where the journey started, with representing the state at age of 12,” she said. Now she is a from her cricket heroes such as M.S. Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. mature batter who anchors innings and leads teams. However, she didn’t always see herself as one.

“This is a very tricky thing for me because I never started as a batter or a bowler because I was picked in the side because of my fielding. So, later on, I developed both batting and bowling, so after years of experience, now, I've been treated as a batting all-rounder,” she said with a laugh. These attributes are something that she said she had tried to emulate “The way Virat Kohli took teams over the line to victories. A lot of those guys inspired me a lot and I've learned just by watching them play. I had a few opportunities to talk to K.L. Rahul as well and all these conversations have helped me gain a lot of experience and I just try to implement it,” Shubha said.

Now with about a decade’s worth of experience in the sport, she has learnt enough to guide younger cricketers who want to make a name in the sport. “Hard work and consistency is the only key, is what I like to tell all the youngsters. Background really doesn't matter. Fitness and the skills definitely go hand in hand. Especially these days, the power hitting in women's cricket also has been massive,” she said. Currently in a targeted camp for the upcoming season, Shubha Satheesh is gearing up for the challenges that lie ahead.