‘Jemi, your over extra cover drive is the best’ – Jemimah Rodrigues reveals Grace Harris, Laura Harris’ motivating text (Source – Getty Images)
Star India Women’s batter, Jemimah Rodrigues is back in Australia for the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL 2024-25). She was last seen playing for Melbourne Stars in the 2022 season and is currently featuring for the Brisbane Heat in her third WBBL stint. She has played four games so far for the Heat and has scored 124 runs at a strike rate of 145.88 with 16 boundaries and one maximum.
Jemimah, who has had a lukewarm stay in WBBL 2024 so far, brought her A-game against Adelaide Strikers. She scored 61 runs off just 40 balls laced with seven boundaries and one maximum. She was adjudged Player of the Match and the 24-year-old credited Grace Harris and Laura Harris for inducing an attacking Australian mindset ahead of the game.
“I think the last two innings of mine [in the WBBL] didn’t go that well. Grace Harris and Laura Harris both of them texted me and said, ‘Jemi, your over extra cover drive is the best. Don’t stop yourself from playing that. Even if you get out, it’s fine. But just keep dominating'” said Jemimah as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
“So I think that really helped me in [the Strikers] knock just to have that kind of backing firstly from your team that the team still believes in you and at the same time, just they’re like, ‘No, we’re still going to take the positive route. We’re still going to play positive cricket and bat with intent'” she further added.
They were like ‘Just go all out’ and that really helped me: Jemimah
Australia has been always lauded for its mindset on and off the field, the same ingredient is common with both men’s and women’s international teams. When it comes to the women’s teams, they boast the record of claiming the T20 World Cup title for a record six times. Jemimah, having spent substantial time down under, thanks to WBBL, quipped that the Aussies approach to ‘go all out’ will stick with her.
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“So 100%, that mindset – just to learn from them [Australians]. There’s a saying that if there are two options, always take the positive one. So I think that is something I have also been really working on in my game and just to have people around you after two failures, I had those doubts – ‘should I still play with this mindset or should I not?’ the 24-year-old batter continued.
They were like ‘Just go all out’ and that really helped me. This is something that I will take with me 100% and hopefully bring it out with the Aussies and just continue to do well,” Jemimah concluded.