Dhaka, (Samajweekly) In India’s ongoing ODI series against Bangladesh, Jemimah Rodrigues was presented with a challenge: of batting at number five, a position where she never batted previously.
For someone who has batted majorly as an opener or in the top-order, the shift to number five came for Jemimah, a selfless team-player, came after being urged to do so by captain Harmanpreet Kaur and interim head coach Nooshin Al Khadeer.
“No, I don’t think there’s much of a change in my mindset (batting down the order). I think the captain and the coach came up to me and they said, we need you to bat at number five, to help the team. I was like, if my team needs me to do it, I’m ready to bat anywhere, wherever you send me,” said Jemimah in the post-match press conference after her career-best 86 at number five took India to series-levelling 108-run win.
“Harry di (Harmanpreet) also said that be ready with your bowling because we will need you on these tracks and that’s what I do. On this challenging wicket, we had to build partnerships and I didn’t change my mindset. The basic talk was how we can have good partnerships and take the team through,” she added.
In the tour, Jemimah was making low scores till Wednesday’s game and she expressed an annoyance with herself for not making the most of the opportunities of batting on Bangladesh’s spin-friendly pitches.
“There was no anger for me. There was frustration because I knew what I could offer for this team. I play in Mumbai, where we have slow and turning tracks. So, if anyone is used to this condition in our team, I think that was me,” she said.
“I was very annoyed at myself that I couldn’t take up responsibility for my team. Even in the second T20, I got a good start, which I could have converted and made it into a bigger score to help team India to get a bigger score. So more than that I was very annoyed with myself,” she added.
India came into the second ODI on the back of losing the series opener by 40 runs, where none of the batters got going. But in the second game, Jemimah shared a crucial 73-run stand with captain Harmanpreet Kaur (52) to take India to 228 for eight, with strike-rotation being a key factor in negating the pressure from Bangladesh spinners.
“I don’t think there were any technical (changes today). For me, I just kept…five over targets. Because when you think of a longer format like 50 overs, mentally, you’re already tired, like you have to play for so long. So, for me, I kept short targets, and today I didn’t think about how many runs I would score,” said Jemimah.
“I was just talking to Harry di that we need to build a partnership. We play, we build a partnership, our team’s going to win. So I think that really helped me to get over the pressure of me not scoring. Also Harman and I think the conversations we were having, we were building a partnership,” she added.
Jemimah made good use of sweep and cut shots in her breezy knock and once Harmanpreet retired hurt on 48 (though she came back to make 52), the right-hander shared a 58-run partnership with Harleen Deol (25 off 36 balls) to ensure India posted a competitive total. She was quick to point out how the slow nature propelled a change in approach by the batters.
“The way we adjusted to conditions here as a batter, it’s very difficult to play the same way because all of us are really aggressive. We like to hit those shots, but over here we have to change our game and we have to adjust to conditions. I felt our batting unit when we asked Yastika, Smriti and Harman and then I, and then Harleen huddling at the end. The way we adjusted, I think that was our biggest take from this game,” she stated.
Wednesday’s game was crucial from India’s point of view, especially after faltering in run-making due to back-to-back middle-order meltdowns. But in the second ODI, all of those mistakes were put down to rest as India’s solid batters in Jemimah, Harmanpreet and Harleen came to the fore.
“One thing we spoke about is how we get over the loss quickly because we still have two more games to win the series. We can still make a comeback. And I think I loved what Nooshin di told us that you know a champion team is not a team who never fails or never or never loses, a champion team is a team who are down and out and get back up from that and bounce back,” Jemimah said about the mindset ahead of the game.
“So that was the basic talk and that’s what our team showed. And I think this would give us more confidence from a fall from being criticized and from a low place to come back and, again prove what Team India is. I think this is gonna give our team a lot of confidence going ahead,” she added.
Before being handed the ball in defence of 228 in the 30th over, Jemimah had taken only one wicket in the format. But with the spin-aiding pitch having extra bounce to work with, she took four wickets with her off-spin, giving only three runs in 3.1 overs to bowl out Bangladesh for 120. Jemimah also became the first India women’s cricketer to take four wickets and score a fifty in the same ODI match.
“I am not surprised, honestly. I have been bowling a lot for my state team back there. Even for the last two years, I have been working on my bowling in the nets. I have been bowling well” she said.
“I was very happy when our support staff and our captain Harry di came up and they said to me that ‘we need you (to bowl) on these tracks because you can get a good turn and bounce’. So, I was ready for it and I think it’s two years of preparation that you can now see the fruits of it,” she concluded on a day where her batting at number five was as crucial as her four-fer.
