T20 Women's World Cup: Jemimah Rodrigues Shines Bright, Leads India To A Stunning Win

An unbroken fourth wicket stand of 58 from the 22-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh handed India a seven-wicket victory after Pakistan set the target of150 to win in yesterday’s T20 Women’s World Cup match. Rodrigues had tears in her eyes following the match and cried as she hugged Ghosh.

From being dropped in the 50-over World Cup last year that she terms as “one of the most lowest phases” of her life to taking India to win at the beginning of the T20 World Cup against Pakistan, Rodrigues shined the brightest on February 12. She credited her turnabout to some turners on Mumbai’s maidan.

Practised With U-14 And U-19 Boys To Hit Back From The Lowest

"I'd taken a break when I went back to my coach Prashant Shetty and my dad. We worked out our plan. In a week I had to play two games, more match time, the rest I would practice and Sunday was my day off. At the same time I was putting myself in challenging situations,” said Rodrigues in an interview after the match.

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She added, "I was not playing on flat wickets, I was playing on turning wickets. In Mumbai, I went to Azad Maidan during that time and I was playing matches against the boys.” She mentioned that she was playing against the U-19 boys in the morning with dew, multiple pitches on a huge ground, without covers where one can even put finger inside the pitch.

She further added, "I played with under-14 boys. Imagine the kind of pressure, me being an India player playing with under-14 boys, if I lose my wicket, 'kya hai ye' [what is she even]. It's like that - those are the thoughts in my head. That was a lot of pressure but I had to fight through those thoughts. But I believe all these little things just build up and make you the player you are, and I am grateful for everything that happened. You give me an option to go back and change things. I wouldn't change anything. I like how my life is going."

Who Is Jemimah Rodrigues?

The 22-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues contributed to the Indian women’s cricket team winning silver at the Commonwealth Games 2022. She made history by becoming the first-ever Indian to play for the Australian Twenty20 Cricket Franchise Team, Melbourne Stars, for the eighth season of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL).

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A post shared by Jemimah Jessica Rodrigues (@jemimahrodrigues)

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Rodrigues, who made her Women’s Twenty20 International cricket debut against South Africa in 2018, is the second woman after Smriti Mandhana to score a double century in a 50-over cricket match. She was a member of the Indian squad for the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia, and was the second-highest run-scorer in the women's Hundred tournament with 249 runs.