Jemimah Rodrigues on Wednesday (August 3) played a key role with the bat in India's thumping 100-run victory over Barbados, which was also their third and final group stage match of the Commonwealth Games 2022.
Batting at No. 3, Jemimah scored 56 off 46 balls with 6 fours and 1 six, helping the Women in Blue to post 162/4 on the board. Shafali Verma (43 off 26 balls) and Deepti Sharma (34* off 28 balls) also chipped in with handy contributions.
Speaking after the game, Jemimah said she knows her strengths well and finds no reason to change it.
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"Smriti had told me long back in the IPL [Women's T20 Challenge] in 2019 that you don't have to be a Harmanpreet Kaur or a Smriti Mandhana. You have to be a Jemimah Rodrigues. I think I have understood that role and it's helping me," she said after the match.
"The team has given me a role. If I can play that role, it doesn't matter how other people look at it. If the dynamics suit our team, we have Shafali, Smriti, Harman, so I just want to play the best role I want to play for the team," she added.
The 21-year-old also acknowledged that power-hitting isn't her strong suit but she is still working on that aspect of the game.
"Definitely, I've worked on my power game, but more than that, I've understood my game better. I'm not a power-hitter, I'm a placer. I can hit the (gaps for) singles and doubles well; I know how to manoeuvre the field. I think that is my strength," she said.
Jemimah may not be known for hitting sixes, but she is still confident of maintaining a healthy strike rate.
"My game is not very flashy but even without that, I end up with a good strike rate. That is what I have realised I don't have to be someone else; I have to be Jemimah Rodrigues to score. This is what has helped me," she remarked.
Jemimah Rodrigues also credited The Hundred tournament for giving her enough confidence to perform at the CWG in Birmingham. She represented Northern Superchargers in the inaugural edition of the league last year.
"The best thing about the 'Hundred' was the opportunity to get to play in English conditions, which I wouldn't have gotten normally," Jemimah said.
"Any match, even if it's a domestic game, I think when you go out there and score runs, you get confidence. And that is what happened to me. I was blessed that I got to play for the Northern Superchargers.
"I had a good season there, and I just wanted to continue that because the more I play, the better I do and the more I learn. I just want to apply that whenever I play for India," she added.
Coming to the match, the Indian women’s team rode on Renuka Singh Thakur’s four-wicket haul (4 for 10 in four overs) to restrict Barbados to 62/8 in 20 overs.
With this thumping victory, Harmanpreet Kaur and company also booked a place in the semi-final of the women’s cricket competition in the ongoing CWG in Birmingham.
(With PTI inputs)
