Rodrigues and Mandhana will be in action when India women and Australia women clash from Sept 14.
The incident happened when both the Indian men’s and women’s teams toured New Zealand. Rodrigues revealed that she and Mandhana asked Kohli to talk to them about batting, and they lost track of time before the café staff intervened and asked them to leave.
“Yes, I did speak to him. Once we were in New Zealand. Smriti and I were there, and the men’s and women’s teams were staying in the same hotel. So, Smriti and I asked Virat if he could talk to us about batting. He said, “Yeah, please come,” and then he told us to come down to the café, Rodrigues said on "The Bombay Journey" YouTube show.
She revealed that Anushka Sharma also joined them in the conversation, in which Kohli offered a rather inspirational and encouraging message.
“You both have the power to change women’s cricket. And I can see that happening. Just take up that responsibility because the change you can bring is going to be big and massive,” shared Jemimah.
After discussing cricket, the group moved on to more casual topics and to life in general. However, the chat went on for a long time as they lost track of time, and the café staff intervened and asked them to leave.
“We talked a lot about batting and related things. After that, we just spoke about life, like how long-lost friends meet and chat. We ended up talking for four hours—half an hour on batting and four hours on random stuff. The only reason we stopped was because the café staff kicked us out. They said, ‘That’s it; it’s done now. It’s 11:30; you need to leave.” Rodrigues recounted with a laugh.
Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana will be in action from September 14 as the Indian women take on the Australian women at home ahead of the ICC Women's World Cup 2025.