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Jemimah Rodrigues wrote the perfect redemption story to seal India's place in the ICC Women's World Cup 2025 final by playing a memorable knock of 127 in 134 balls at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai as the Women in Blue registered the greatest win in history by defeating seven-time champions Australia by registering the highest successful chase in Women's ODI history.
Rodrigues was the star of the show for India as they now find themselves one step away from their maiden global title. The 25-year-old completed an incredible turnaround in her career by being the star of India's stunning victory as she is starring in India's campaign just three years after being left out of the squad in the 2022 edition.
How Jemimah Rodrigues Was Inspired By Rohit Sharma's Story
Jemimah revealed that she looked up to Rohit Sharma to take inspiration as the Indian cricket legend had a similarly long wait to play his first World Cup as he was dropped form the squad for the 2011 World Cup and had a major heartbreak as in his case he missed a home World Cup campaign, which saw the team ened a 28-year-old wait to lift the trophy under MS Dhoni's captaincy.
The Indian star revealed in a chat on Breakfast with Champions with Gaurav Kapoor two years ago that she had a chat with Rohit Sharma on his experience of facing the same faith as her and how he came out of it to turn around his career. Jemimah stated that Rohit told him he was depressed but gave her valuable advice.
"He (Rohit Sharma) was like 'No, a lot of people came up to me at that time and said a lot of things but nobody knew what I was going through'. There was only one person, Yuvraj Singh, who came up to him (Rohit), took him out for dinner and there was nobody else. He said he was depressed for a month. When he said that I was crying inside but I was literally in tears," said Jemimah.
"He said: 'Tough times will happen but you know it is what you do next. Make sure when you get the next opportunity, you are ready for it. It happens (or) doesn't happen it's fine.' And that stuck with me. I don't have to prove to anyone or anything. I just have to play for the pure joy of the game," Jemimah added.
Jemimah was also dropped from the playing XI during the ongoing tournament against England in a call that was widely criticised. However, she made it back to the playing XI in the following game aginst New Zealand and proved a point with a quick-fire innings of 74 in the virtual quarter-final.
