From ‘Baby’ Of Team India To Star Batter: The Story Of Jemimah Rodrigues | Cricket News

When Jemimah Rodrigues made her worldwide cricket debut for India as a 17-year-old towards South Africa in February 2018, there have been excessive hopes from her to proceed Mumbai’s wealthy legacy of manufacturing distinctive batters. Since then, Jemimah has efficiently navigated by quite a few challenges to determine herself as a key batter within the nationwide set-up. She has additionally turn into a well-known face in varied T20 franchise leagues, who’ve grown considerably in numbers since Jemimah made her worldwide debut.

Jemimah attributes her development as an individual on and off the sector to her participation within the now-defunct Kia Super League (KSL) in England – her maiden look in an abroad T20 league. The numbers had been distinctive — 401 runs coming at a mean of 57.28 and strike price of 149.62, together with an unbeaten 112 off 58 balls.

Apart from on-field showings as a quantity 4 batter, as an alternative of batting in high three, the expertise of residing alone overseas for a month reworked younger Jemimah in constructive methods. “I was just 18 when I travelled all alone abroad. I had to do everything on my own – from my laundry to cooking my own food, staying in apartments, and travel for games, apart from managing the money and everything.”

“So that experience changed me a lot, because I was not used to being alone in anything. Even in the Indian team, I was like the baby of the team, I was very loved and taken care of, and I knew everyone. But then this was a whole new thing – a lot of times I felt very alone and lonely. But that changed me a lot as a person, and made me more independent.”

“At the same time, I felt stronger in the sense that I was very young, and it was not easy for me being alone for an entire month. So that changed a lot and helped me in just to play the leagues, and I did really well there, and later, in all other leagues like The Hundred, WBBL, and WPL,” stated Jemimah in a dialog with IANS, held earlier this month throughout a shoot for a clothes model in New Delhi.

Despite frequent discussions across the membership versus nation debate and franchise leagues jostling for house in a packed worldwide schedule, Jemimah takes nice pleasure in rubbing shoulders with the very best in enterprise and gaining priceless experiences regardless of the staff she represents in T20 leagues.

“When we play in the dressing room with the England and the South Africa players, because that’s what WPL, WCPL and all these tournaments do – they give you exposure, so much learnings. Plus we are able to pick their minds when we share the dressing rooms and it’s not just us learning from them – they also learn so much from us.”

Another key attribute which a bubbly and simple going Jemimah has learnt from enjoying T20 leagues is sheer calmness, particularly from her Delhi Capitals skipper, Australia’s five-time World Cups successful captain Meg Lanning, throughout two seasons of WPL.

“The way she leads the team, and is so calm under pressure – that is one thing I will really take from her. She just knows what she’s doing and that’s what helps her be calm even under pressure, which I feel that is one of the biggest qualities a captain can have. It’s because at the end everyone’s under pressure, but if you see your captain calm, it just has something that calms down the entire team.”

In this yr’s Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL), Jemimah turned out for Trinbago Knight Riders, alongside India teammate Shikha Pandey and Australia’s left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen. The trio performed for Delhi Capitals on this yr’s WPL and will likely be reunited once more on the Brisbane Heat within the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), a prospect which Jemimah calls ‘loopy’.

In the event, the place Jemimah made 105 runs in 5 innings at a strike price of 108.24, an unbeaten 59 off 50, which took TKR to a four-wicket win over Barbados Royals with two balls to spare on a gradual Trinidad wicket gave her ample confidence of ending a match, a ability which India will want extra of it throughout subsequent month’s T20 World Cup within the UAE.

“Every knock was very important. It just teaches you a lot more. Yes, that was not officially a semi-final but actually a semi-final for our team. So that really gave me a lot of boost and confidence, because nothing like finishing a match for the team and winning it to help them reach the finals out of nowhere. But to adapt well to those conditions and do well, that gave me a lot of confidence of knowing how to play on different surfaces.”

With UAE being a venue which does not host ladies’s T20I video games repeatedly, Jemimah would not assume it’s a completely unknown entity for the Indian staff, citing many gamers within the staff have performed within the Women’s T20 Challenge at Sharjah in 2020.

Once the event begins on October 3, India will resume its quest to win its first ladies’s T20 World Cup title. Jemimah reveals the Indian staff’s discussions are extra round specializing in their strengths, as an alternative of questioning what their Group A opponents like Australia and Sri Lanka are more likely to do within the competitors.

In final yr’s T20 World Cup semi-final, India gave an almighty struggle, however fell 5 runs wanting beating Australia in Cape Town. But that event noticed Jemimah give India a vibrant begin by hitting a 38-ball 53 not out in a stress state of affairs to tug off India’s highest profitable run-chase of their historical past of being within the Women’s T20 World Cup.

In the lead-up to that recreation, Jemimah had no nice knocks towards her identify. Hence, it was comprehensible that Jemimah was nervous the evening earlier than the conflict towards Pakistan, a match-up which brings added stress on each groups.

“I was not in the best of form and then comes the big game against Pakistan – the entire world watching, especially in India. You know how the India-Pakistan rivalry is – all watchmen in the building come and tell me, ‘World Cup jeete ya na jeete, Pakistan ke against nahi haarna aap logon ko’ (Whether you win World Cup or not, you don’t have to lose against Pakistan).”

“To ease her nervousness, Jemimah followed her usual routine of going out for a walk. On the way, she stopped, looked upwards and said, ‘Thank you Jesus, last year at the exact same time I was dropped from the ODI World Cup, but this time I’m here’. “I just thanked him for that and it just changed my perspective – of just being grateful for where I was and how the journey wasn’t easy.”

Twelve months ago, Jemimah was left out of India’s ODI World Cup squad, a phase which she called a difficult and most challenging moment to still live through. Now, in Cape Town, on the cusp of playing the T20 World Cup, Jemimah remembered God, who was her pillar of strength in dark times.

“That gave me a lot of encouragement – like ‘okay, I was down but God picked me up and I’ve done it in the past, I can do it again’. So I think that was one of the first things that came to my mind and then just going there, my parents first time ever witnessing a live India-Pakistan match in the stadium.”

“It was even more special raising the bat towards them because more than anything else they supported me throughout that time. They believed in me no matter what, even when nobody believed in me, they were always there.”

With the support of her parents Ivan (who doubles up as her coach) and Lavita, present in the Newlands cricket ground for the Pakistan clash, as well as from coach Prashant Shetty, Jemimah managed to come out of a difficult time to be the lead architect of India’s win a day before the fifth anniversary of her international debut in South Africa.

“So that was special and even more special thing was that just the next day marked five years for me playing international cricket on that very same ground I played back in 2018. I have a similar jumping picture and if I look back from where I was then to where I was present at that time, it’s very special to see how far I’ve come and how far God has brought me. I had no clue of that similar jump, but someone put it on social media and I was like, ‘oh damn’.”

In the shortest format, Jemimah has primarily been a top-order batter, but the upcoming T20 World Cup might see her play at number five. She cites it as the team’s belief of her being able to make a massive difference there for India, as seen from her making a 29-ball fifty against South Africa at that position in Chennai.

She also feels excelling at number five in T20Is is all about adapting to situations, conditions and the mindset remains the same. “I’m just trying to be a little more aggressive and positive because sometimes situations at number five are very different from three, as there it’s more like you build innings, partnerships, run and do everything to set a momentum and tempo.”

“At five, you already know the situation and from there you have to take whatever comes. So I’ve been working a lot on that, like going all out from the first ball because sometimes in a match, you may need six runs off one ball and I want to be prepared for that at five.”

Going after the bowlers isn’t a part of Jemimah’s natural game, as she relies more on her pristine timing, using the crease for manipulating the bowlers. If needed, unfurl her pulls and slog-sweeps effortlessly against spinners.

The WPL 2024 saw Jemimah play more powerful shots to clear the fences, seen from her hitting eight sixes overall and strike-rate standing at a healthy 153.59. She asserts that the power-hitting side of her work is still going on.

“I have to put a lot more effort maybe compared to others, because my game is more around timing and manipulating gaps. I’m glad to see it coming at the right time, so I keep working on it. My dad always tells me that you don’t need to be a muscular person to score runs. You just need to have brains and get runs your way, and that is one of the best advices I’ve got and I try to stick to that.”

“She additionally seems to be as much as the talismanic and match-winning Virat Kohli for inspiration, as he is additionally not a giant six-hitter, however is excessive on timing and splitting gaps to ace T20 batting. We have very comparable batting types. It’s not like Virat Kohli cannot hit sixes, however each time he hits sixes, he hits it within the gaps, in order that even when he mistimes, he can nonetheless get 4 or two runs and possibly one run, however he will not be catch out.”

“So that is very smart cricket he plays and that’s what I try to add to my game. More than anything, I am just sticking to my process and the style that suits me, like he also runs well between wickets, builds his innings, and likes working hard through it.”

Other points of the Indian staff which will likely be keenly watched within the T20 World Cup are fielding and health, termed non-negotiable by head coach Amol Muzumdar. Jemimah talked about how a latest camp on the National Cricket Academy (NCA) was centered round health and fielding, with the bat being hardly touched.

She additionally cites power & conditioning coach Anand Date, fielding coach Munish Bali and different assist workers members serving to them be the very best in these two skillset. On July 4, a sea of supporters completely packed Mumbai’s Marine Drive to have a good time India’s T20 World Cup victory, because the open-top bus housing Rohit Sharma & Co together with the glittering trophy greeted followers on their method to Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.

Jemimah desires of an analogous reception assembly her staff at house in the event that they go on to win the title on the Dubai International Stadium on October 20. With her identify which means ‘dove’ in Hebrew, one will likely be hoping the chirpy, ingenious and athletic Jemimah performs a key position in India successful its first-ever Women’s T20 World Cup.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)