Navi Mumbai, Oct 31: Overwhelmed with emotions after her unbeaten century fired India into the final of the Women’s ODI World Cup, an exhausted but gratified Jemimah Rodrigues said Harmanpreet Kaur’s dismissal in the semifinal against Australia was a “blessing in disguise”.
Jemimah produced an innings of the highest quality under tremendous pressure, hitting 127 not out from 134 balls as India nailed a world-record chase of 339 in Women’s World Cup history to set up a summit clash with South Africa.
She laid foundation of the win with a 167-run stand with Harmanpreet (89), whose dismissal in the 36th over put further pressure on Jemimah, given that India had lost matches from winning positions earlier in the tournament.
“I was telling Harry di (Harmanpreet) that we both have to finish it,” Jemimah told the media.
“When that (Harmanpreet’s dismissal) happened, it was like a blessing in disguise for me because I was kind of losing focus because of tiredness. But when Harman got out, I think that added more responsibility to me that ‘okay, I need to be here, okay, she’s out, I’ll score for her’.
“That again got me in the right zone (and) then I started just playing sensibly,” said Jemimah.
Jemimah, who kept breaking down during the press conference on Thursday night, said her faith in God helped her overcome anxiety.
Jemimah revealed that every time she sank to her knees, it was to pray to God.
“I was praying. I was talking to myself because actually I’d lost a lot of energy. I was feeling very tired, and because of the tiredness, I was playing a few shots that… it was a very tricky phase at that time,” said Jemimah, who was dropped twice on 82 and 106.
“(I was thinking) ‘should I go right now? Should I take it deep?’ That was one learning for me, to just stay there (and) towards the end we (could) always take it deep.
“But yeah, I was praying, I was talking to God because I feel that I have a personal relationship with Him and when I cannot carry myself, he always carries me,” she added.
Jemimah’s charismatic innings came on the back of a tough phase where she was dropped but her teammates stood beside her.
“Nobody likes to talk about their weakness. I was going through a lot of anxiety at the start of the tournament. I used to call my mom and cry, cry the entire time, let it all out, because when you’re going through anxiety, you just feel numb.
“You don’t know what to do. You’re trying to be yourself. In this time, my mom, my dad… they supported me a lot. There was Arundhati (Reddy) who I think almost every day I’ve cried in front (of).
“She checked on me every single day. There was Smriti (Mandhana) who helped me. She also knew what I was going through. (A) few of the nets sessions, she just stood there, didn’t say much, but she just knows that her presence is important for me. There’s been Radha (Yadav) who’s always been there taking care of me,” Jemimah added.
Jemimah said India were not daunted by the mammoth chase as they knew the DY Patil Stadium would favour those who spend time on the wicket.
“We knew that we’ve done it against this team, and I felt with the way Australia started, they were 30 runs short with the way they were going (and) with the start they (had) got,” she said.
“DY Patil is such a pitch, any score is chaseable. My thought process was that I just had to be there because the runs will come, but I need to be there to get those runs,” she said.
“Whichever team would have come in the semifinals, it would have been the same reply from our team because we don’t want to play the team… we want to play the moment and win that moment,” Jemimah added.(Agencies)
