Unsold in the WPL auction in November 2025 but a WPL champion two months later.India allrounder Sayali Satghare calls her achievements from the last few months “special”, like a “dream come true” and like it has all come in “fast forward”.
Back home in Mumbai, with memories fresh from Australia, where she got her Test cap in the one-off game in Perth during the all-format series and opened the bowling with the pink ball to finish with 4 for 50, Satghare is letting it all sink in.
“The last two-three months have been very special,” she told ESPNcricinfo. “After [winning the] WPL, I got a Test debut, and if you are debuting on a ground like WACA, it is a dream for any fast bowler. And representing India in any format is a dream come true.”
After India were bowled out for 198 by Australia on the first day of the Test, captain Harmanpreet Kaur gave the new ball to Satghare. It was almost 7pm, the lights had come on, and Satghare had three slips in place.
She had Georgia Voll edge one, but it didn’t carry to third slip, and she ended the over by beating Voll. In her next over, Satghare sent one down from wide of the crease, got banana swing with her incoming delivery, and beat Voll – her Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team-mate – all ends up to hit the top of leg stump, dislodging that bail.
“We got to bowl under lights that day. I feel the ball swings more under lights and gets more nip, too,” she said. “So my job was to keep bowling in good areas. I would say it was a dream ball; it swung so much. It started from outside off and hit leg stump. So it is a dream ball but I also worked very hard for it.”
“One very big thing that I have learnt is that you keep doing your work, keep working hard and you never know… you can get any opportunity anytime. And you just have to be ready for it. So if you are doing your work, [put your] head down and let God take care of it”
Sayali Satghare
Satghare kept at it. She beat Ellyse Perry with her next two deliveries. With her hooping swing and Kranti Gaud’s control at the other end, Australia were 24 for 1 in nine overs when Satghare finished her first spell of 5-1-13-1.
When Satghare returned for her second spell, she had a loud appeal for lbw against Healy with her third delivery, which also moved in to the right-hand batter. When India reviewed, it turned out Healy was struck outside the line of off stump. But just like she did against Voll, Satghare got Healy in her following over when the batter handed a catch to backward point.
“If you ask [me which wicket was] more special, I think it was the bowled dismissal [of Voll],” Satghare said. “But I feel the lbw appeal against Healy was very close. If she had been out, it would have been even more special because it was her last game, [and, as it turned out] her last innings. She is a legend of the game.”
Dismissing Healy also made it a fun statistic for a bowler who idolises Mitchell Starc.
Sayali Satghare helped RCB win their second WPL title•BCCI
Satghare’s stocks went up at the beginning of the year when she became a regular wicket-taker for RCB in the WPL. But things were a lot different in December 2025 when she had gone unsold in the auction after being released by Gujarat Giants, where she spent two seasons – 2024 and 2025 – for just four games and one wicket.
Towards the end of December came a lifeline. Perry had already pulled out of the WPL, and RCB decided to sign Satghare as the replacement. They did not ask her to fill Perry’s massive shoes as they filled her batting spot in other ways. In Satghare, RCB wanted an opening swing bowler to partner the tall Lauren Bell. Satghare repaid that faith by picking up eight wickets in her first three games, which included big names like her Mumbai team-mate Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Beth Mooney, Sophie Devine, Ash Gardner, Shafali Verma and Lizelle Lee. In the final, too, she removed Rodrigues to help RCB restrict Delhi Capitals to 203 for 4.
“One very big thing that I have learnt is that you keep doing your work, keep working hard and you never know… you can get any opportunity anytime,” she said. “And you just have to be ready for it. So if you are doing your work, [put your] head down and let god take care of it.”
When asked what makes RCB such a different franchise, she said, “It’s the crowds for RCB in the WPL. No matter which match it is, wherever it is, against anyone, there is always so much support for RCB. Their fans are very loyal. I would say it is the best fanbase. And I think RCB is more of a family than a team. We all take care of each other, we support each other. Whether it’s a good day or bad, we are together as a team.”
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo