“I would go there with hope and then the hope got crushed.” – Jemimah Rodrigues

20-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues is extremely popular among the youth and all the cricket fans due to her exuberance. She is an excellent batsman and also a sharp fielder. Her active social media presence keeps her in news. Recently, her video of playing guitar along with former England team’s mens’ player Mark Butcher had garnered lots of attention from the internet. But the cheerful girl as she is known by has faced some serious difficulties in her rather short life.

In an interview, she revealed how the failures in the England series had broken her down. She was forced to sit out after the series which added to her pain. Her parents too were aware of what their daughter is going through. They kept boosting her morale by reminding her how she had been through something similar in the past (2018 Asia Cup onwards) and how she had fought through it. Her brother too encouraged her by reminding her,”‘You’re still going forward and that’s the important thing. It takes a lot of determination to get beaten down but to stand up again and face that”.

She also revealed that she is a spiritual person who reads the Bible a lot.” That habit of mine has kept me sane and always helps me to get some perspective back. Trust God’s timing“, she said.

How a Virat Kohli interview helped her

Jemimah admitted how she was trying too hard to prove herself, to prove that she deserves to be in the team while she was on the England tour. That’s when one of the interviews of Indian captain Virat Kohli helped her. Kohli said in the interview that he didn’t feel like waking up, felt low, and had lost confidence. That statement of Kohli was extremely relatable for Jemimah. The fearless batter felt better to know that she wasn’t the only one going through such a rough phase and that she can emerge stronger out of it.”

“Earlier I was trying to strive a lot to prove that I’m good enough and that I belong here. What changed then for me there was that I took a step back and told myself that I’m here to play cricket and let’s just enjoy the sport. What’s the point if I am not enjoying the game – isn’t that why I started playing in the first place?“, this thought process changed Jemimah’s adversity into opportunity.

And that was it. Jemimah played a sensational knock of 92 not out (17x4s, 1x6s ) in the Hundred tournament. That knock is very special for her as it came at the appropriate time when it was absolutely needed.

This knock also reinforced the respect for Jemimah in the hearts of her fans. We all wish that Jemimah keeps striving hard with a relaxed mindset and keeps making India proud.