The eyes welled up, and tears rolled down her cheeks. Unable to control, Jemimah Rodrigues broke down. She was inconsolable. She spoke about her mental health and the trepidation that kept her on the edge for the last month, throughout the ICC Women’s World Cup. She confessed to having cried and cried during those endless nights when everything seemed a shade darker than usual.
Jemimah stood alone in the tempest that raged within, endured the pain of getting dropped and made a comeback scoring a half-century against New Zealand and a match-winning century against the indomitable Australia on Thursday. The runs that flew from her blade acted as a balm on the sores that were still raw. The moment was cathartic.
Amid the sobbing and narrating about the turmoil of the past, the unbridled joy of scoring a hundred in the semifinal prompted Jemimah to enact one of her favourite poses—strumming of guitar with the willow in hand. It is not easy to ply trade in a star-obsessed country where jeers and boos follow every failure. Even more so for someone who is always full of joy and empathy, loves guitar and songs, Jemimah was trolled whenever she failed, and her passion turned into fodder for haters. Thursday will hopefully erase those memories.
Just after she scored the hundred on Thursday, a photograph of Jemimah, along with Nasser Hussain from 2018, resurfaced on social media. “Remember the name .. Jemimah Rodrigues.. did some throw downs with her today .. she’s going to be a star for India,” Hussain wrote. More than a prophecy, the words seemed like a premonition.
Coached by her dad, Ivan Rodrigues, and Prashant Shetty, Jemimah shuffled between cricket and hockey till the age-group level before picking what she liked more. She first cemented her place in the shortest format – the T20I – before slowly chirping on the edges of the 50-over format. Despite her ability to bat, her inability to close out matches or rise during crunch situations played against her. For someone who was regarded as a batting prodigy once, scoring hundreds should have been the norm, but sport is a great leveller and at times can be merciless.
This is when her off-field persona — social media posts of playing guitar, singing and making reels — was turned into ammunition to attack her. The Mumbaikar was subjected to a fair bit of abuse on social media for being herself. Hailing from a devout Christian family in Mumbai, she was attacked for her faith, too. And when she was dropped from the 2022 edition of the tournament — which would have been her first ODI World Cup – her career hit a nadir.
Self-doubts crept in, and anxiety was her constant company. Yet she hung in there patiently. She, along with her coach Shetty, started to rebuild her not just her career but life, brick by brick. She worked on her flaws, added a few shots to her armour and more than anything else fortified her mind with positive thoughts. “That has been the hallmark of her character, basically,” says Shetty. “In the past three, four years, she has really improved. She has taken the game to the next level. You could see every series, probably. She has innovated a few shots, done something or the other. I think that comes with a lot of hard work when she is practising.”
Coming into the tournament, Jemimah thought she had done all the hard work. However, she had two ducks and two 30s in the first four games. She was struggling mentally and getting dropped against England only made things worse. After batting at No. 5 for two years, she walked in at No. 3 against New Zealand, filled with self-doubt. A half-century helped ease her nerves and led to that match-winning century. More than the innings, the words were pearls. “It’s ok to ask for help,” she said after the match in tears.
At 10, Rodrigues saw Sachin Tendulkar get surrounded by a sea of people after winning the 2011 World Cup from her home and told herself, “I want to win a World Cup”. In 2017, a 16-year-old Rodrigues, along with her Mumbai teammates, was at the Mumbai airport to welcome the Indian team after the heartbreaking loss against England in the WC final. In 2022, she was dropped from the World Cup team.
This year, fighting the uncertainty, the anxieties and self-doubts, Jemimah took it upon herself to get India one step closer to the dream she had 14 years ago. Throughout her stay in the middle, she had kept repeating scriptures to keep herself calm. “… ‘weeping endures for a night, but joy cometh in the morning’. And today joy came, but I am still weeping,” she would say on Thursday.
On Sunday, she would pray for one more spurt of energy to secure India’s first World Cup.
