CENTURION: On February 13, 2023 as four franchises fought for top all-rounders and marquee players at the inaugural Women's Premier League auction, one franchise waited their time — Delhi Capitals. They sat through 15 stars without raising the paddle once.
For they knew, the one player they wanted more than anyone. One that could lead them in the future. When Jemimah Rodrigues came as the 16th name in the auction, the paddle went up. They kept raising it until Rodrigues was eventually signed for Rs 2.2 crores. Then came along Meg Lanning, who led DC to three consecutive finals, while Rodrigues remained her understudy. After three years and a World Cup win, came the most expected captaincy announcement — Rodrigues will lead DC in the upcoming edition of WPL.
Days before the season begins, the 25-year-old feels the opportunity has come at the right time for her. She acknowledges the rollercoaster she went through in the last three years — 2022 WC drop, T20 WC heartbreaks, struggling with anxiety before becoming the star of India’s WC win at home — and says “however hard it's been, however easy it's been, I wouldn't change anything because everything has shaped me and made me the player I am today and has prepared me for what's ahead.”
Captaincy is not a new thing to Rodrigues. A batting prodigy from Mumbai, she has led her state and West Zone teams innumerable number of times through age-group and senior cricket. However, her century against Australia in the semifinal at Navi Mumbai has given her a new sense of self belief and calmness. She says so as much. “It gave me a lot of boost and it gave me a different kind of a belief just to come out of there. Because I think it was just that moment where you faced everything and when you thought it was over, things just fell into place. So I think that just gave me a different kind of belief and a different kind of calmness also, especially when things don't go well, that things change. You just got to keep doing your part. So I think my mindset has also changed a bit from that moment,” Rodrigues reflected.
A live wire on the field, she has always been guarding the boundary ropes till now but as captain Rodrigues will have to remain calm and up close in the inner circle. “I'll stop running around,” she jokes before explaining how she has learnt to maintain the calmness even under pressure from Lanning. She has picked up different traits from Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana but is keen to find her own path as a leader.
Something she has done successfully in domestic cricket, leading from the front and being proactive with the bat. While she has lit up the stage for Mumbai or even India, Rodrigues has only three fifties in 27 matches of WPL. She feels her batting approach will be about making the best of situations while remaining proactive. “I will still be positive. I will still take the game on and I feel if the ball is there in my zone to be hit, I will hit it and yeah, I'll still take the team forward because that is what you know playing T20 cricket is all about. It's being willing to take those risks and backing yourself to do that because when you do that, sometimes you just end up playing the best innings you've ever played. So, I think it's important to have that mindset because being proactive, always being willing to dominate, that mindset has always helped me make better decisions,” explained Rodrigues.
Asked if this leadership role gives her a chance to grow towards captaining India at some point in the future, Rodrigues said it will be a learning experience.
“I genuinely feel that having that added responsibility as a leader, it gets the best out of me. I think that's the motivation for me. Leading in a stage like the WPL, it's going to be great learning for me, a great experience at the same time and not just develop me as a captain, but also as a player. Because, you have to start thinking out of the box. I'm always thinking about what the batter is going to do or what the bowler is going to do and that might even help me, you know, going forward in the Indian team, whether it is as a leadership role or whether maybe in the future the other leadership roles that's going to come,” she signed off, promising that DC will break the final jinx and get their hands on the trophy.
