Long gap between final and last league game working to our advantage: Jemimah

There is an eightday gap between Delhi Capitalsrsquo last league match and the 2025 Womenrsquos Premier League WPL final they will play on March 15 at the Brabourne Stadium But Jemimah Rodrigues the sidersquos righthanded batter believes the long gap has worked to the teamrsquos benefit citing the time is being used to adjust to Mumbairsquos pitchesDC have been direct finalists in all three editions of the league after topping the table but they are hoping to be third time lucky in the title clash happening on Saturday ldquoTalking about the gap its actually working for our team Weve had a lot of team bonding sessions and at the same time this WPL was a bit hectic for usrdquoldquoWe did play backtoback games traveled and played too So getting this break is honestly how I and the team is looking at it its working to our advantage and also weve gotten good practice sessions here on the Mumbai pitches and get used to thatrdquoldquoSo sometimes its nice to have this break and yes were ready for the finals We are looking forward to it and have prepared well Like the other two years this year has not been like the smoothest sailing for us But like I said in one of the interviews that this team just doesnt know how to give up and were going to come back stronger this yearrdquo said Jemimah in a virtual press conference on ThursdaySaturdayrsquos final is also the first time DC will play a game at the Brabourne Stadium for the first time in this season Asked if this would be a disadvantage for DC Jemimah replied ldquoThe thing is that everyone in our team has played on these pitches Maybe one or two have not played at the CCI We played as the Delhi Capitals team also last to last yearldquoSo everyones pretty familiar with the conditions and the pitches Like I said weve been having good practice sessions in these off days which is preparing us well enough to adjust to the conditions and get used to itldquoHonestly like all the other pitches Mumbai to bat on its like a batters dream You enjoy batting here the outfields fast time it in the gap its a four So we are really looking forward to it and so as our bowlers as theyve come up with their plansrdquoSo far Jemimah has made only 116 runs at an average of 1933 including hitting one halfcentury But she said she is saving her best knock for the title clash ldquoLike last year was very different to this year This year we played in different conditions too But maybe if I can just put it forth in simple words I guess Im saving the best for the finals Thats all Ill sayrdquoAmidst all the DCrsquos experienced players contributing heavily opener Shafali Verma has been the standout batter yet again by amassing 300 at an average of 4285 and strike rate of 1579 Jemimah hoped that Shafali is back in the national reckoning after being out of the T20I setup since last yearrsquos T20 World Cup in the UAEldquoShafali is such an inspiration in the way shes come back because not just shes come back but how shes come back the kind of strike rate and the kind of impact shes been having for that team It just shows her character how I see it is as a lot of times when things arent going well its easy to keep doing well and what youre doing But to be dropped and to come back the way she has hats off to her Im sure shell be back soon in the Indian team toordquoAnother remarkable thing for DC has been Jess Jonassenrsquos promotion to number three in the batting order where her average is 4566 in five innings at a strike rate of 1557 Moreover she has picked 11 wickets with her leftarm spin bowling at an average of 19 Jemimah revealed the plan to promote Jess to number three was laid by head coach Jon Lewis captain Meg Lanning and assistant coach Lisa KeightleyldquoSo usually how we used to go about in the last two seasons was in the power play Alice Capsey used to walk in as the punch hitter just to take advantage just go out freely and back herself and play This year because of our team combination we wanted to make a few changesldquoThats when she couldnt make it in that combination and in one of the games I went at number three But then we all again thought that wait that was something that was working for us in the last season why not try it here with Jess It was JB Lisa and Megs decision to send Jess thereldquoWhen Jess went there she just smoked every ball out of the park batted with such intent took the game on and that brought so much momentum in the batting order It just made life easy for everyone coming after that and its really working for us Its a very good decision theyve taken and Im sure were going to stick by it she saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever