Monica Patel

Some Lesser Known Facts About Monica Pate

• Monica Patel is an Indian cricketer who is known for making her Women’s One Day International (WODI) debut for India, against South Africa, on 7 March 2021. In February 2023, she was selected for the team Gujarat Giants in the Women’s Premier League (cricket).

• Monica was born in a Rajasthani family, but they moved to Banglore when she was young.

• She started playing gully cricket at a very young age with her brother in their colony. At that time, she was more interested in batting than bowling. Her neighbours saw her playing cricket and suggested her family get her admitted to a professional cricket club.

• Her brother took her to a local cricket club in their neighbourhood. When she was asked by the coach to bowl, she bowled a senior player after which she received appreciation from her coach.

• Her coach asked her to train in bowling, but she told him that she wanted to become a batter. He somehow convinced her and asked her to focus on becoming an all-rounder.

• According to her, she used to perform well in club matches, but she started taking the sport seriously when she made her under-19 debut in the Karnataka team.

• After she made her U-19 debut in 2015, she was selected for the Karnataka senior team, but she did not get much chance to play many matches. In an interview, she said that there were other bowlers in the team who performed well and because of them she did not get much chance to play.

• In an interview, she talked about the advantage she had of being a left-arm pacer and said,
  

  We have an advantage with different angles, bringing the ball into the right hander. There are very few left-arm pacers around the world. I don’t feel any lucky there, but there is always an advantage in this sense.”

• In the 2018-2019 Senior One-day tournament, she bagged six wickets and in 2019, she bagged four wickets. However, the tournament was cancelled amid the Covid-19 pandemic after which she returned home.

• In January 2021, she played the Falcons Sports Club golden jubilee T-20 tournament in which she took three wickets.

• She got a call for her India debut in March 2021 for the series against South Africa. In an interview, she talked about her selection in the Indian squad and said,
  

  There are many seniors in the squad. I want to learn from them, gain experience, which will help me grow as a cricketer. But yes, whenever I get an opportunity, I want to deliver, make sure that I bowl fast and also give my best.”

• She was part of the first match in the series. In an interview, she said that she could not sleep the night before the match. Even during the match, when she entered the field, she felt butterflies in her stomach. In the match, she bowled four overs and gave twenty runs. She only played the first match and was not part of the team in the other three matches. She played the final match in which she performed better.

• In an interview, she said that there was a great difference between domestic and international cricket. In international cricket, there is no chance to make more errors and the player has to be consistence in their performance.

• In 2022, she was part of the IPL team Supernovas.

• On 13 February 2023, she was bought for Rs 30 Lakh by Gujarat Giants in WPL Auction 2023. The Women’s Premier League will start on 4 March 2023 at the DY Patil Stadium with a match between Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians.