Jemimah Rodrigues, the Indian batter, is eager to incorporate the “Australian mindset” she has acquired from her WBBL teammates into her game. Rodrigues, who is back in the tournament for her third stint, has played four games for Brisbane Heat so far. She scored a match-winning 61 off 40 balls against Adelaide Strikers, crediting the turnaround to her Heat teammates’ encouragement to play “positively.”
Rodrigues believes that the positive mindset instilled in her by her Australian teammates has been instrumental in her recent success. She credits Grace Harris and Laura Harris for their support and encouragement, which helped her overcome doubts and play with confidence.
“I think the last two innings of mine [in the WBBL] didn’t go that well,” Rodrigues said. “Grace Harris and Laura Harris both of them texted me and said, ‘Jemi, your over extra cover drive is the best. Don’t stop yourself from playing that. Even if you get out, it’s fine. But just keep dominating’. So I think that really helped me in [the Strikers] knock just to have that kind of backing firstly from your team that the team still believes in you and at the same time, just they’re like, ‘No, we’re still going to take the positive route. We’re still going to play positive cricket and bat with intent’.”
Rodrigues believes that facing international bowlers in leagues around the world is beneficial for her confidence, especially with the ODI World Cup scheduled in less than a year. She emphasizes the importance of playing in different conditions and against top bowlers to prepare for the World Cup.
“Playing these foreign leagues and playing the WPL, it does help because you play against the best in the world in all these leagues and at the same time you get to play in different conditions,” she said. “Every ground is so different to the other and I think that is one of the best parts of playing franchise cricket that you get used to the conditions and you get to play the top bowlers in women ‘s cricket.”
Rodrigues believes that playing in the WBBL will be good preparation for the ODIs against Australia in December, despite the format being different. She emphasizes the importance of assessing conditions and adapting her mindset to the longer format.
“For me, nothing much changes in my technique,” Rodrigues said. “Nothing much will even change in my mindset. I think I will still back myself to play positive cricket, but at the same time being more sensible because it’s a longer format and trying to extend this innings even longer, scoring more and more runs for India. So I think that’s the similar mindset. Again, it’s about how I assess the conditions and assess the situation.”
Rodrigues also welcomed the ICC’s initiative to eliminate social media abuse in the women’s game. She believes that the move will allow players to focus on playing cricket without dealing with harsh comments.
“I think that was a very good initiative by the ICC. I remember when I had gone in that line because sometimes social media can be harsh. At the end we all are humans, we all are we here doing our best, trying to do whatever we can. Some ways we are great. Some ways we are not. So it’s just harsh when we see people just commenting all sorts of things on social media. But it was such a nice thing from ICC just to protect us and just to keep the game so pure. We [needed to] just go out there and play cricket and enjoy cricket than dealing with all these things. So it was, it was really nice from ICC.”
