An emotional Jemimah Rodrigues after leading India to Women's World Cup final in Navi Mumbai. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)India’s Jemimah Rodrigues didn’t have the best of starts in the recently concluded ODI World Cup which India ended after winning after a coming back from an ordinary beginning. India started with back to back wins over Sri Lanka and Pakistan but then went on a losing streak of back to back 3 matches. The Women in Blue lost matches against South Africa, Australia and England and were staring at elimination before rebounding with a win against New Zealand while their match vs Bangladesh was abandoned. But the win against the Kiwis were enough to send them through to the semifinals.
Rodrigues scored 0 and 32 against Sri Lanka and Pakistan before notching up another duck against the Proteas. She would then find herself out of the playing XI against England but returned in the match against New Zealand where she scored a crucial 76-run knock helping India down the Kiwis. After that, there was no looking back for the player as she went on a rampage against Australia in the semifinal, scoring 127 as India chased down 338 runs. She would then score 24 in the final as India lifted their first ICC trophy after defeating South Africa.
In a recent interview with CricBuzz, the Mumbai batter opened up about how she dealt with anxiety during the first few matches and how a talk with her mother put her at ease just before the Pakistan match.
“The morning of the Pakistan game, I was fine till then. I went out, I tried to do all the things that made me happy because we had I think four days off in Sri Lanka. But then the morning of the match, I was feeling too much. I had a physio session, and then I just went to my room and I started crying. I called my mom and I was like, ‘I’m not feeling okay and I don’t know what to do. I’m just struggling’. And then I told her what happened in the first game and how it was bothering me. How, while fielding – fielding is something I love the most but I started getting anxiety even in my fielding thinking, ‘Okay, now that I’ve not scored, I need to do something special on the field’. I started putting so much pressure on myself in the field and I was not able to enjoy my fielding. And that is something that has always been a stress buster for me. I’ve always been like if not in the batting, I will try and contribute in fielding,” she said to CricBuzz.
“My mom told me one thing at that time, which I don’t know if many people will be okay with her saying it but it meant the world to me. She went like, ‘For me, even if right now you just want to leave the World Cup and come back home, I’m okay. And I will fight with everyone for it. But you being happy is what matters to me the most.’ I was crying. I told my mom that, ‘You know what, you just saying this means the world to me. I know I’ll be okay now because I know that you’re just valuing me for me and not for what I can do. You’re understanding me.’ At that moment, I just wanted someone to understand me. But if somebody has not been through it, it is hard for them to understand,” she added.
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