Jemimah Rodrigues opens up on going through anxiety in initial phase of event

Jemimah Rodrigues 25 was a picture of composure and determination right up to the time India crossed the finish line after a record run chase in the second semifinal of the ICC Womenrsquos ODI World Cup against Australia However moments later she broke down and refused to hide her emotionsldquoI was going through a lot of anxiety at the start of the tournament and it was a lot till a few games ago as well I used to call my mom and cry the entire time let it all out because when yoursquore going through anxiety you just feel numbrdquo Rodrigues said during the postmatch press conference after Indiarsquos fivewicket win over Australia at the DY Patil Stadium on ThursdayTwo ducks to start withThe Mumbai girl who started the competition with two ducks versus Sri Lanka and South Africa and was dropped for the England game in Indore made a strong comeback scoring an unbeaten 76 during Indiarsquos 53run win over New Zealand ldquoDuring this time my mom and dad supported me a lot There was teammate Arundhati Reddy who I think almost every day Irsquove cried in front of There was Smriti Mandhana who helped me Therersquos Radha Yadav who has always been there taking care of me Irsquom so blessed to have friends I can call family so that I did not have to go through it alone and that itrsquos okay to ask for helprdquo she addedlsquoBible encouraged mersquoRodrigues who has scored 268 runs in seven games so far at a strike rate of 10634 said that reading the Bible gave her strength to keep performing ldquoIrsquom very grateful for the people who believed in me when I couldnrsquot and were there for me and understood me because I couldnrsquot do this on my own Irsquom grateful to Jesus because just his presence and reading the Bible encouraged me in my tough times And the Bible says that weeping endures for a night but joy comes in the morning And today joy came but Irsquom still weepingrdquo added RodriguesThe 167run secondwicket partnership between Rodrigues and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur 89 10x4 2x6 was instrumental in paving the way for the hosts to chase 339 runs in 483 overs However Rodrigues reckoned that Harmanpreetrsquos departure in the 36th over when the scoreboard read 2263 brought the best out of her ldquoWhen that Harmanpreetrsquos dismissal happened it wasnrsquot a blessing but itrsquos like a blessing in disguise for me as I was kind of losing my focus because of my tiredness But when Harman got out I think that added more responsibility as I needed to be thererdquo Rodrigues explainedThe promotion to No 3Interestingly even after the last practice session on the eve of the semifinal on Wednesday Rodrigues was not aware that she would be sent in at No 3 instead of her regular No 5 And when she eventually learnt about it she started visualising how she shoulders the responsibility while leading the Mumbai teamldquoI just thought about how I would play when I lead Mumbai I knew I needed to be there build a partnership with Smriti or Harman or whoever comes in I knew how important this match was and I wanted to be there to finish it off So all I did was keep telling myself lsquojust stand here amazing things can happen just give God a chancersquo and it workedrdquo concluded RodriguesIs Jemimah the new 360deg batterMumbai girl Jemimah Rodriguesrsquos unbeaten 127 off 134 balls in the Womenrsquos ODI World Cup semifinal which was the centrepoint of Indiarsquos massive 339run chase against Australia was also a great showcase of her ability to score runs all around the groundIndia menrsquos T20 skipper Suryakumar Yadav is known for his explosive bighitting ability all around the park earning him the lsquoMr 360rsquo tag but Jemimah did it in a calm measured manner with classy copy book strokes along the ground at the DY Patil Stadium on ThursdayDuring her gritty century against the Aussies Jemimah scored 72 runs on the off side and 55 runs on leg side including 14 fours Cuts and drives were her most productive shots proven by the total of 55 runs she scored square on the off side On the leg side the flick shot brought her the most amount of runs 24 as well as two boundaries She also used the sweep to good effect against the spinnersJemimah scored 20 runs in the lsquoVrsquo down the ground perfectly split into 10 on each side She didnrsquot shy away from getting creative either as she unleashed the reverse sweeps and scoops to score behind the wicket in the latter stages Indiarsquos new No 3 batter scored 18 runs in the lsquoVrsquo behind the stumps Her innings included plenty of running in the form of 57 singles and seven twos as wellCompiled by Karan Shankar