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Deandra Dottin has seen seismic adjustments in her life within the final 12 months or so. She got here out of retirement after two years to rejoin the West Indies staff the place she was an important cog in a spirited World Cup marketing campaign.
She was picked within the public sale of the Girls’s Premier League (WPL) by the very franchise she had a controversial exit from within the inaugural season even earlier than the event started.
𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙮𝙡𝙚 🤌🧡
Welcome again, Deandra Dottin 🤩#GujaratGiants#BringItOn#Adani#WPL2025#TATAWPLAuction #TATAWPLpic.twitter.com/HhjV18xxqi
— Gujarat Giants (@Giant_Cricket) December 15, 2024
From bilaterals in India and at house to a profitable Girls’s Huge Bash League marketing campaign with the Melbourne Renegades, there’s been little to no respiration area for the veteran who lately rediscovered her pleasure within the recreation.
“The last couple of months have been a fast-processing kind of cricket thing. I’ve been in good form but just not executing at the level I want to be at,” she tells Sportstar on the eve of the massive knockout conflict between Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians within the Girls’s Premier League.
The ‘World Boss’, as her identify goes within the girls’s recreation, has lit up the WPL however not in her common type.
Recognized for her sheer energy and penchant for the maximums, Dottin has been extra medical with the ball, coming in for Gujarat as a strike bowler within the PowerPlay and within the loss of life.
Gujarat Giants’ Deandra Dottin celebrates the wicket of Danni Wyatt-Hodge of Royal Challengers Bengaluru throughout a Girls’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 match on the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
| Picture Credit score:
The Hindu/Okay. Bhagya Prakash
Gujarat Giants’ Deandra Dottin celebrates the wicket of Danni Wyatt-Hodge of Royal Challengers Bengaluru throughout a Girls’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 match on the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
| Picture Credit score:
The Hindu/Okay. Bhagya Prakash
She performed an analogous function for West Indies within the T20 World Cup final 12 months. Her four-fer in opposition to New Zealand – her fourth four-wicket haul in T20 WCs – most by anybody within the event’s historical past – underlined her mastery regardless of working within the largely spin-friendly circumstances within the UAE.
Engaged on the swing
Within the WPL this season, Dottin has bowled virtually 30 overs in eight video games, with 9 wickets to her identify whereas 77 of the 178 balls have been dots. Her slower ball and talent to fox batters within the air have been essential however what she’s been engaged on is maximising on swing.
“Something I’ve been working on is swinging the ball both ways. I already have my variations in terms of the slow balls. But the outswinger is an element I am working on. I am still figuring out how to get the lengths right and be consistent.
“But it’s good to be a bowler whom batters can’t read, especially those batters who you want bad,” she explains.
RELATED: How has Gujarat Giants fared in Girls’s Premier League knockouts? Street to Eliminator
That stated, what she actually hopes to do is placed on a present with the bat, and the Eliminator in opposition to Mumbai Indians may be simply the event to convey out a classic Dottin particular.
Good shot b̷h̷a̷i̷y̷a̷a̷ ̷d̷i̷d̷i̷ 𝗗𝗗 😂🧡#TATAWPL2025#GujaratGiants#BringItOn#Adanipic.twitter.com/IlULffU6xn
— Gujarat Giants (@Giant_Cricket) March 12, 2025
The 33-year-old has been slotted decrease down the order to present GG a technically sound energy hitter within the later levels.
“I’ve not asked to ever come up the order because a player of my calibre should go in with two overs and still come back with plenty, with the form I’m in. It has helped me to be clear about my role in the team and not get caught up with higher scores.
“I have been working hard in the nets to ensure I can make the most of the few balls I get.”
Dottin in motion for Gujarat Giants throughout a Girls’s Premier League 2025 match in opposition to Delhi Capitals in Bengaluru.
| Picture Credit score:
The Hindu/Okay. Bhagya Prakash
Dottin in motion for Gujarat Giants throughout a Girls’s Premier League 2025 match in opposition to Delhi Capitals in Bengaluru.
| Picture Credit score:
The Hindu/Okay. Bhagya Prakash
She has the likes of Simran Shaikh, Bharti Fulmali and Shabnam Shakil making an attempt to be taught and excellent the artwork of energy hitting from her. Dottin believes that the pursuit of explosive batting ought to start with growing power.
“I think that boils down to the player itself. A lot of them ask me how I got so strong and all I tell them is to do a lot of push-ups and pull-ups.
“If you can master doing bodyweight stuff – I think I’ve spoken to Shabnam about it because she saw me doing pull-ups – it will hold you in good stead. You need to be able to carry your own weight. If you can’t, then you have problems.
“I tell the girls to start with one pull-up a day. When you’ve mastered that, do two the next day. Use a band to help you till you can handle your weight on your own. Pull-ups, shoulder push-ups, these are good ways to develop strength in the areas you need to use to hit the ball long.”
By no means say by no means
Cricket is Dottin’s meditative area. However it wasn’t so when she determined to all of a sudden name time on her worldwide profession in August 2022 citing a detrimental atmosphere inside the Windies setup.
She moved to Canada however by no means deserted cricket. Finally, the starvation for the massive stage caught up along with her and he or she introduced her intention to return, forward of the T20 World Cup in Dubai and Sharjah final 12 months.
“I found peace even before I came back (from retirement). That’s the only reason why I even decided to return. The break was good. It did a lot for me mentally. I learned to focus on things I can actually control and leave the rest that I cannot.
“I never stopped training. I was always in the gym and doing my physical stuff. So, it wasn’t too much of an adjustment. More of a mental reset,” she explains.
The World Cup and an impressed run for the West Indies, to the semifinal, solely strengthened her religion in these life classes.
Dottin introduced her worldwide retirement in 2022 however determined to return earlier than the T20 World Cup in Dubai and Sharjah final 12 months.
| Picture Credit score:
ICC by way of Getty Photos
Dottin introduced her worldwide retirement in 2022 however determined to return earlier than the T20 World Cup in Dubai and Sharjah final 12 months.
| Picture Credit score:
ICC by way of Getty Photos
“That campaign showed me that no matter what life throws at you, you use it to make something out of it.”
Being in India on and off because the flip of the 12 months (first the bilateral white ball collection after which the WPL) has been enjoyable for Dottin.
RELATED: Deandra Dottin after Gujarat Giants WPL comeback – ‘Life has come full circle’
Inside the Gujarat setup, it’s additionally one other alternative for her to take in the most effective elements of how these round her method cricket.
“You’re never too old to learn. I’m actually still in a learning process at my age and still willing to give the knowledge that I have as well.”
“I ask a lot of questions. But one of the best ways for me to learn is to watch others. Sometimes, they will play a shot and might be offered a correction and I’ll watch them do it.
“Watching sometimes teaches you more than actually executing the shot yourself because you can’t see what you’re getting wrong and how the fix is helping. All that remains is to then mimic the correction,” she provides.
The Windies all-rounder additionally hopes to do is placed on a present with the bat, and the Eliminator in opposition to Mumbai Indians may be simply the event to convey out a classic Dottin particular.
| Picture Credit score:
Emmanual Yogini/The Hindu
The Windies all-rounder additionally hopes to do is placed on a present with the bat, and the Eliminator in opposition to Mumbai Indians may be simply the event to convey out a classic Dottin particular.
| Picture Credit score:
Emmanual Yogini/The Hindu
Dottin is one among three cricketers from the Caribbean within the WPL (alongside Hayley Matthews and Chinelle Henry). She hopes the numbers develop.
“The WPL is definitely an aspirational thing for the girls back home, but the thing is, you have to put in the work in order to reach this far. I always say that if you’re comfortable, you’re not doing enough.”
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