'Now people don't care if it's men's or women's team': Jemimah ahead of WC

Ahead of the upcoming ICC Womens T20 World Cup 2024 in the United Arab Emirates UAE star India Womens batter Jemimah Rodrigues expressed her thoughts on the growing support for womens cricket over the past few yearsIndia will begin their campaign against New Zealand on October 4 with a highly anticipated clash against archrival Pakistan scheduled for October 6The Women in Blue who reached the semifinals in the previous edition are placed in Group A of the competition alongside Australia New Zealand Pakistan and Sri LankaRodrigues recalled that when she started playing cricket she was only aware of two players former India Womens captain Mithali Raj and former rightarm seamer Jhulan GoswamiWhen we started playing cricket at least for me personally the only two names I knew were Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj I didnt even know how they looked honestly because there were no televised games They achieved success without recognition or fame and we are now enjoying the fruits of what they have sown Because of them we are here Jemimah said while speaking to Star SportsAlso Read ICC announced accessibly priced tickets for Womens T20 World CupThe cricketer further mentioned that one of the key changes in recent years has been the growing excitement to watch womens matchesNow theres Smriti Mandhana Harmanpreet Kaur and the next generation that has come up Everyone knows about womens cricket now One of the biggest changes over the last few years is the excitement around watching our games the righthanded batter addedPeople now come and say they dont care if its a mens or womens team they just want to see the Indian team play That excitement that josh we get is a turning point and being part of this generation is the biggest motivation for us the 24yearold concludedAllrounder Harmanpreet Kaur will lead a strong 15member squad for the upcoming marquee eventHarmanpreet will be assisted by vicecaptain Smriti Mandhana who is expected to open the batting with Shafali Verma Dayalan Hemalatha is another toporder option in the squad Along with them Jemimah Rodrigues Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh will strengthen an already formidable batting lineup according to the ICCRicha is the designated wicketkeeper in the squad alongside Yastika BhatiaBowling options include Renuka Singh Pooja Vastrakar Deepti Sharma Radha Yadav Asha Sobhana Sajana Sajeevan and Shreyanka PatilIndia has a good share of allrounders in Harmanpreet Sajana Sobhana and Deepti The inclusion of Yastika and Shreyanka is subject to fitness as both players have been battling injuries over the past couple of months India will also have three travelling reserves for the event in the UAEIn last years T20 World Cup Australia defeated South Africa by 19 runs to win their sixth title India reached the semifinals narrowly losing to Australia by five runsSquad Harmanpreet Kaur c Smriti Mandhana vc Shafali Verma Deepti Sharma Jemimah Rodrigues Richa Ghosh wk Yastika Bhatia wk Pooja Vastrakar Arundhati Reddy Renuka Singh Dayalan Hemalatha Asha Sobhana Radha Yadav Shreyanka Patil Sajana SajeevanTravelling reserves Uma Chetry wk Tanuja Kanwer Saima Thakor Nontravelling reserves Raghvi Bist Priya MishraWith agency inputs