India women’s team batter Jemimah Rodrigues was the highlight of the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 second semi-final match. She played one of the greatest knocks in the tournament with her unbeaten 127 runs off 134 balls. Coming in at no. 3 to bat, she led her team to a thrilling victory against defending champions Australia, chasing down the target score of 339 runs with five wickets to spare in 48.3 overs.
However, her success wasn’t as easy as it seemed. In a total of seven matches played, she has scored only on four occasions. In the World Cup opener against Sri Lanka, no runs were scored from the batter, but India secured their first win of the tournament. She then opened her account in the second match against Pakistan, scoring 32 runs in 37 balls at a strike rate of 86.48.
In the third match against South Africa, she again failed to secure any runs, which added to the disadvantage for the team, losing the match by three wickets. Facing Australia in the fourth game, she brought in a decent contribution with her 33 of 21 at a strike rate of 157.14, but her team failed to get the win against the defending champions.
She was dropped from the side during the England game and on return, in the fifth match against New Zealand was, however, an eye-opener with Jemimah scoring her first half-century of the tournament. She scored an unbeaten 76 runs off 55 balls at a strike rate of 138.18, which was essential in India’s win by 53 runs. The sixth match against Bangladesh ended in a no result.
Facing Australia for the second time in the semi-finals, Jemimah was aiming to get redemption for India, and she did it successfully with her first-ever World Cup century. In addition to her dominance with the bat, she was brilliant on the field, taking one catch and securing a runout.
Jemimah’s striking performance not only got India their qualification in the Women’s World Cup 2025 final game where they will face South Africa, but got her the Player of the Match honour.
Jemimah on India Women’s victory over Australia Women
Emotionally happy on securing a big win for her team in the Women’s World Cup 2025, Jemimah, during the post-match interview, opened up on her journey from not being part of the squad in the 2024 edition of the tournament to being an instrumental batter in the team this season.
She said, “Today was not about my fifty or my hundred, about making India win. Everything that happened so far, was a setup for this. Last year, I was dropped from this World Cup. I was in good form. But things kept happening back-to-back, and could not control anything. I have almost cried every day through this tour. Not doing well mentally, going through anxiety. I knew I had to show up, and God took care of everything.”
“Initially, I was just playing and I keep talking to myself. Towards the end, I was just quoting a scripture from the Bible – to just stand still and that God will fight for me. I just stood there and he fought for me. A lot inside me was left, but was trying to stay calm. Seeing India win by five wickets, I could not stop myself,” she added.
(Inputs sourced from ESPN Cricinfo)
