Indian Women batter Jemimah Rodrigues made a brilliant comeback to the international cricket as she starred with the bat in the first T20I against Sri Lanka at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Thursday.
Notably, Rodrigues was benched during the first ODI in England last year and then in the entire T20I series. She did well in The Women’s Hundred as well as the Women’s Big Bash League, still, the Mumbaikar was not picked for the Women’s World Cup held in New Zealand earlier this year.
After all the ups and downs, Rodrigues, in her comeback game, scored a vital unbeaten knock of 36 runs to help India post a competitive 138/6 in 20 overs which they successfully defended after restricting the hosts at 104/5.
Rodrigues was named ‘Player of the Match’ for her crucial knock, and after the game, the right-handed batter revealed how conversations with men’s team captain Rohit Sharma and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant helped her regain confidence.
“My height is the same, but the mental thing has changed a lot. In the last few years, from the last Sri Lanka tour, the journey hasn’t been very smooth, and there have been a lot of ups and downs,” said Rodrigues in the post-match presser.
“I also had the opportunity in the last few months to talk with cricketers like Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant and others. They actually told that these moments define you and prepare you for something greater that’s coming. If you look at it [in a] negative way, it is not going to help. But these are the moments that define you as a cricketer. I was blessed to speak to them and some of our teammates,” she added.
