Jemimah Rodrigues says she knows her strength and does not want to change her natural game
Jemimah Rodrigues realizes her strengths well and tracks down not a glaringly obvious explanation to change her normal game to gorilla power-hitters like skipper Harmanpreet Kaur or exquisite timers of Smriti Mandhana’s kind.
Jemimah Rodrigues realizes her strengths well and tracks down not a glaringly obvious explanation to change her normal game to gorilla power-hitters like skipper Harmanpreet Kaur or exquisite timers of Smriti Mandhana’s kind.
Jemimah assumed a significant part in India’s pounding 100-run triumph over Barbados with a massively significant knock of 56 off 46 balls, which was different in its development from how Harmanpreet or a Shafali Verma plays.
“Smriti had told me long back in the IPL [Women’s T20 Challenge] in 2019 that you don’t have to be a Harmanpreet Kaur or a Smriti Mandhana. You have to be a Jemimah Rodrigues. I think I have understood that role and it’s helping me,”
Jemimah said after the match.
“The team has given me a role. If I can play that role, it doesn’t matter how other people look at it. If the dynamics suit our team, we have Shafali, Smriti, and Harman, so I just want to play the best role I want to play for the team,”
she added.
She has no misgivings in conceding that power-hitting isn’t her strength however she is as yet chipping away at that specific range of abilities to offer more in the shortest format of the game.
“Definitely, I’ve worked on my power game, but more than that, I’ve understood my game better. I’m not a power-hitter, I’m a placer. I can hit the (gaps for) singles and doubles well; I know how to maneuver the field. I think that is my strength,”
she said.
Jemimah is hopeful that even without hitting considerable measures of sixes, she can in any case solidify the strike rate at a fair speed.
“My game is not very flashy but even without that, I end up with a good strike rate. That is what I have realized I don’t have to be someone else; I have to be Jemimah Rodrigues to score. This is what has helped me,”
she went on to add.
She also highlighted the equation shared between her and the coach Ramesh Power and the latter’s role in promoting her to number three, which she hopes, is her optimal situation to thrive.
“Ramesh [Powar] sir had told me after the last game to be prepared for No. 3,”
she said.
“Honestly, when I was preparing, I was ready for both. Even when I was preparing in the nets, with our side-arm (throwdown) specialist, I was prepared for both, because you never know, the team can need me anywhere and I should be ready for that,”
Jemimah said.
“But definitely, I love No. 3. It’s my position. [I’m] glad I got to play there and contribute to the team, contribute to the plan, and it worked out well for the team,”
she added.
She also went on to add that the valuable open doors she got at The Hundred tournament for the Northern Superchargers last year’s plays had a crucial impact in aiding her grip on the English circumstances and giving her adequate certainty to perform at the CWG in Birmingham.
“The best thing about the ‘Hundred’ was the opportunity to get to play in English conditions, which I wouldn’t have gotten normally,”
Jemimah said.
“Any match, even if it’s a domestic game, I think when you go out there and score runs, you get confidence. And that is what happened to me. I was blessed that I got to play for the Northern Superchargers.
“I had a good season there, and I just wanted to continue that because the more I play, the better I do and the more I learn. I just want to apply that whenever I play for India,”
she added.