MATCH STORIES
Follow UsAt least what’s her bio on social media platform ‘X’ reads. Her talent, though, is anything but little. She’s perhaps one of the most recognizable faces in the game.
If you know Jemimah Rodrigues, you are perhaps well aware of her game, as well. Slow, classical, rigid, technically sound, pure, aesthetic max, your words would end there before it goes to power-hitting.
That’s not what she is associated with, at least before the clash against Mumbai Indians on March 5 (Tuesday). There’s something about the Mumbaikar in Jemimah that comes out in a fierce fashion against Mumbai Indians.
Till now, she had only batted on four occasions, and her biggest knock of the season was a 42 on the opening night. Guess the opponents? Mumbai. Even on that occasion, it was 42 off 24 deliveries, an innings that had five fours and two sixes.
While she would have loved to kick on from there in the tournament, her scores have just been waning, with 4*, 0, and 7 in the remaining three innings. There was some sort of frustration visible on her face. But never did that smile wane off the face.
No one ever questions her talent. None dare to talk against how aesthetically she is on the field but the ever-standing criticism of her slow batting.
One person who didn’t doubt her ever was Biju George, someone who has seen her growth from close quarters and even presented her maiden cap. With not-so-great form, Rodrigues must have just bounced off ideas from her teammates. Perhaps even with the Delhi Capitals’ fielding coach, who rates her quite highly.
“The way her (Jemimah) game is evolving, she has become naturally more aggressive. If you look at her strike-rate, it is constantly improving; she knows her scoring areas, and the dot-ball percentage has come down,” George told Cricket.com in a conversation before the start of the tournament.
Whoever she has bounced off the ideas with has paid off.
79/2, a set stage, it felt like everything was pointing towards Rodrigues playing a blinder. But she was in a precarious position; another wicket and Delhi could have lost a lot of steam, and a slowing strike rate might just take away that extra 10-20 runs from Delhi’s total.
What do you then? In such a situation where you are caught between two minds? Be Rodrigues and play one hell of a knock as the situation demanded.
At 13 off 14, even that hell of a knock seemed hell too far. But that’s where it clicked. When she shovelled a hit against Shabnim Ismail for a four, something clicked. Her form. One became two, and suddenly, she was on 23 off 18, now batting a good strike-rate.
Now, she started accessing areas she had just got a single before, with a swiveling pull. When Rodrigues realized that Pooja Vastrakar wouldn’t give her any room, she made herself one and smoked one through the cover region.
If one showed her ability to pick up length, the other showed her range. Now, 32 off 22, and that classical batter tag was shedding real-time. It vanished in thin air when the right-hander now decided to access the fine-leg boundary with a cheeky lap.
Saika Ishaque knew she had erred and immediately course corrected with a wide delivery. But little did she know Rodrigues was pumped up. She drove one through backward point, almost carrying all the way.
Mumbai ki ladki aayi (Mumbai's girl has come), and this time, it was against them.
She was playing a gem of an innings but she was just getting started. All of this was just a teaser, it was just a mini bite before you wait for the full-course meals. It was just whetting everyone’s appetite.
And then came the rocket.
Four, six and six. If it was against any other bowler, understandable; it was against Nat Sciver-Brunt, one of the premierest of premier all-rounders in world cricket. It wasn’t just mindless slogging; it was pure art.
First, she opened the bat to pierce the gap through the backward point. Then, she walked down the ground and smoked one back over the bowler. Realising her game, Sciver-Brunt now drops it short, and guess what Rodrigues does?
Moves all the way to swivel a stunning pull over the long-leg boundary for a massive six. That’s game awareness at its best; that’s calculated aggression.
With a 27-ball fifty, and a look over at the heavens, Jemimah Rodrigues had arrived and in the most aesthetic of manners. Another six and a four, the scoreboard read 190.
What made her innings even more remarkable was how she was crafted differently. For others in women’s cricket, the deliveries pitched wide are quite a tough tackle. But not for the Mumbaikar, who struck at 258.8 and scored 44 of her 69 runs in that region, showing her 360-degree game.
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Now, for the number-crunching.
69* off 33 (209.09) is only her third fastest-ever innings in T20 history. The first two were her 27-ball 60 (222.22) for the Yorkshire Diamonds and her 43-ball 92* (213.95) for the Northern Superchargers in the Women’s Hundred.
There’s a pattern. Since 2023, the Mumbaikar has scored 1105 runs, averaging a high of 30.69 and scoring at 121.7, with a boundary every over. Previously, while she did average 30.28, she was a little slower at finding boundaries, something that stalled her game.
While Rodrigues starts slowly, something that hasn’t changed over the years, her acceleration will now leave her yesteryear self far behind her. Even before facing 30 deliveries, the right-hander left the Mumbai bowlers dazed with three sixes.
If you were wondering, that’s not crazy; hear me out. Since 2023, she has scored just five sixes. Three out of that came today in just one innings, striking at lightning's pace. Mumbai only knew the aftereffects of that.
She certainly now knows her scoring areas, and soon enough, every bowler will come prepared.
“I always tell her, Jemi (Jemimah), by the time you retire, we want your name on a stand at the Wankhede,” said George.
Not so Lil (J)emimah Rodrigues.
