India batter Jemimah Rodrigues has opened up about the emotional challenges she faced ahead of her match-winning knock that propelled the Women in Blue into their third ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup final.
She revealed that she went through anxiety during the early phase of the tournament and often called her mother in tears to cope with the pressure. It was a superb return to form for Jemimah, who was dropped from the India side earlier in the tournament before finding her best with excellent unbeaten knocks against New Zealand and then Australia.
Jemimah put in a magnificent effort with the bat, scoring her first Cricket World Cup century (127 off 134 deliveries) as India chased down a record total of 339 in Women's ODI history here at the at Dr. DY Patil Stadium.
Emotions were running high for Rodrigues after she hit the winning shot off Australia spinner Sophie Molineux. After the match, she spoke about the difficulties she has faced in recent times and how she had never lost faith in her ability to perform on the big stage.
"I'll be very vulnerable here because I know if someone is watching this - might be going through the same thing and that's my whole purpose of saying it because nobody likes to talk about their weakness," Jemimah told reporters in the press conference.
"I was going through a lot of anxiety at the start of the tournament and it was a lot before few games also I used to call my mum and cry, cry the entire time, let it all out, because when you're going through anxiety, you just feel numb.
You don't know what to do. You're trying to be yourself. And also in this time, my mum and my dad, they supported me a lot. "And also, there was Arundhati (Reddy) who I think almost every day I've cried in front - almost every day I've cried in front of her.
Later, I was joking, I said, you don't come in front of me, I'll start crying. But she checked on me every single day. And there was Smriti (Mandhana), who helped me. She also knew what I was going through. A few of the net sessions, she was just standing there.
Even yesterday she came. She just stood there just because - didn't say much, but she just knows that her presence is important for me. "There's been Radha (Yadav) who's always been there taking care of me.
I'm so blessed to have friends I can call family, that I didn't have to go through it alone and it's OK to ask for help. And that's what happened. And my mum also, she's as emotional as I am, but she went through a lot.
My family went through a lot. But everyone stood by me and believed in me when I didn’t, when I couldn't." Jemimah began the tournament with scores of 0, 32, 0, and 33 before being dropped for the clash against England in Indore, as the selectors opted for an additional bowling option.
The right-hander later admitted that the setback made her question her abilities and whether she was truly good enough to succeed at the highest level. "It started with the anxiety thing. Then I was dropped from the team and that really hit me," Jemimah continued.
"When you’re dropped, you have a lot of doubts because I always want to contribute to the team. But that day I couldn't do much sitting out. And then when you come back in, it's a lot more pressure with everything that was happening in the past month."
"But sometimes all you need to do is just hang in there and things fall into place. So I'm very grateful for the people who believed in me when I couldn't and were there for me and understood me because I couldn't do this on my own," she added.
After Jemimah's heroics propelled the hosts, India, into the final, the Women in Blue will take on first-time finalists South Africa on Sunday, meaning a team will claim the coveted Women's World Cup trophy for the very first time.