RCB to Giants and back home: The Sayali Satghare story

Having grown up idolising Virat Kohli and Ellyse Perry, Satghare already had a 'dream team' she hoped to represent one day. But despite the personal success of the 2023-24 domestic season, the seam-bowling allrounder went unsold at the 2024 WPL player auction. Yet, she found herself on the fringes of living that dream with a team that already 'felt home'. RCB had contracted her as a net bowler for the season, and were also on the lookout for an injury replacement albeit for a spin-bowling allrounder.

Satghare had just stepped back into the team hotel in Bengaluru after a practice session when Gujarat Giants rang her up, again. This time, they weren't seeking her attendance at trials. Instead, GG wanted to directly rope her in as the replacement for their INR 2 crore buy, the uncapped new-ball bowler Kashvee Gautam. Satghare had to change allegiances, and team hotels, in a matter of a few hours.

She didn't debut for Giants that year, and yet became a part of WPL history - the competition's first-ever concussion replacement. That brief, unexpected involvement was her only appearance on the field in 2024, but behind the scenes the new GG management had seen enough to place their faith in her in the form of retention, that "felt like a massive boost" to her, ahead of the 2025 season.

When her chance finally came in the third edition, it was laced with bittersweet irony. Her maiden WPL wicket - and the only one she bagged in three games that season - was that of Ellyse Perry. For all the seconds the ball was in the air - on a day when catches were going down in a heap - Satghare remembers having her heart in her mouth. Even if it came off an attempted yorker gone wrong, the wicket "meant the world" to Satghare.

But just then, the journey stalled once more. Ahead of the 2026 mega auction, the Giants had decided to hit reset and released the 25-year-old. Her name came up in the auction, and was passed without any bids. For many players, that's the moment where belief is hardest to hold onto.

When RCB announced Perry had withdrawn ahead of the fourth edition due to personal reasons, they didn't have to look far. Satghare was back as replacement, completing a journey that took off in the RCB nets, took a Giant detour, and finally found its way home.

She had to wait out three games before getting that RCB cap but once in, Satghare put in a performance that made her hard to overlook again. The debut was at the so-called home turf of DY Patil Stadium for the Mumbaikar; her first wicket in red and gold was that of her state captain, Jemimah Rodrigues.

Sharing the new ball with Lauren Bell, who had already claimed two wickets in the opening over, Satghare's task was to contain the technically-sound DC's middle-order that followed, which could allow Shafali Verma to go on a rampage. Instead, she went a step ahead and cleaned up Rodrigues with an incoming delivery and then Marizanne Kapp with the one that held its line to reduce the Capitals to 10/4 less than ten balls into the game. At the death she returned to cut short the fireworks from Lucy Hamilton, finishing with figures of 3/27 in her three overs, and setting up a comfortable 167-run chase for RCB.

Even though a tad expensive, and overshadowed by Bell's more economical 3/26 and skipper Smriti Mandhana's explosive 96 in the chase, Satghare had given the management enough reasons to stick with her - despite the potential return of Arundhati Reddy from illness, despite the change in conditions from Navi Mumbai's red soil to Vadodara's black soil.

The WPL had come to this western city a month in advance than the last edition, with a men's ODI played here just last week. The pitch wasn't the same as the flat tracks WPL teams had played on last season. RCB's finishers had helped them to 178 - about 15-20 above what they gauged would be par. Even though, with heavy dew around from before even a ball was bowled, early breakthroughs were vital to that run-defence. On the line was an early playoffs booking, and RCB's unbeaten streak.

Except this time, Satghare didn't have a platform in the form of early strikes to build on. Facing her were a very experienced, and destructive, T20 opening pair of Beth Mooney and Sophie Devine - ready to pounce on the rookie after a quiet first over.

Straight up, Satghare castled her first WPL captain. The length delivery just shaped back in a touch and skid through after landing - enough to beat the left-hander's flick and send the bails flying. To the right-handed Devine, Satghare improvised with a short ball to make the opener pull to the bigger of the two square boundaries. Devine took the bait but failed to get the required elevation and found the deep-midwicket fielder. In sending back the pair, Satghare had not only out-powered the Giants' big-hitters but also established her credentials as a lethal new-ball partner to Bell's discipline at the other end that's already made good starts with the ball a habit for RCB.

Satghare returned at the death with not the most perfect wide yorkers, but enough to have GG's last-standing hope - skipper Ash Gardner - caught at backward point and seal the game for her side. A much more economical 3/21 in her full quota against her former side again slipped under the radar, perhaps rightly so after Gautami Naik's composed 73 gave RCB's attack a fighting total to play with. But in both her appearances for RCB thus far, in short turnaround time, Satghare has showcased her ability to seize the moment and deliver under pressure. For a player who once admired from the sidelines, Satghare has now played a quiet but decisive role in keeping RCB unbeaten after five games, making her mark not with noise but with impact.

Her foray into cricket at seven was a chance encounter - a powerful throw from that young a child caught her cousins' coach's attention who then convinced the parents to let her give cricket a shot. It's been a long wait to limelight and consistent opportunities, but Satghare is ensuring she leaves nothing to chance anymore. Not for RCB, not for self.

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