Jemimah rodrigues

India Women Cricketer- Jemimah Rodrigues, Speaking on:

How much Cricket means to the nation of India . . . 

“Cricket in India is just huge, if you go down any street it would be a rare moment to find someone who is not playing cricket there. You find everyone playing cricket and that is amazing, any match that is going on, even if it is a small ground, you find so many people standing by, who want to watch. They don’t even know the teams, they don’t even know the players but they love the game so much that they come, they stand, they watch and then they go. People are crazy for Cricket.”

The opportunity for young Indian girls who want to play cricket . . . 

“When I started Cricket, there were no specific nets or clubs for girls, so for me it was quite difficult. I used to practice with my brothers, and practice with the boys, that’s how I started. Now, it is much, much better than what it was back then. Especially after the 2017 world cup when India reached the final at Lords. After that I am finding so many girls who saw that, and their parents came up to us and asked where they can send their daughter to play.

That never used to happen before and even now, where I am practising, I used to be the only girl with 400-500 boys, now I am seeing a special net, only for girls. So that’s how it is developing in India and I am sure that as the team keeps doing well, this will grow even more in India.”

Enjoying the pressure that comes with being a role model . . . 

“Actually I really like it you know, I take in a way that it motivates me to want to get better. If I take it in the other way, then it will obviously put pressure on me, but just knowing that these small girls are watching me and what I do, means I need to work harder and be very determined in what I do, to keep getting better. That will also inspire them to take up the sport and I don’t think there is any better feeling for me, than when a parent or a child comes up says that they started playing cricket because of you. I think that is one of the best feelings you could ever have.”

How she keeps her feet on the ground, despite her growing stature and success . . . 

“I think it is what my parents have always taught me, I should just play cricket for fun. They always told me that whatever you are good at, whatever talents you have, you should remember that it has come from God. That is why you are blessed with it and remember where you have come from, all the people that have helped you. So when all these thoughts come of pride I just think about that and it means that I cannot take all of this if it wasn’t for God and all of the people that God has used in my life, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I think that’s what keeps me humble and I try to be the same way.”

Her reflections on the 2019 Kia Super League in England, where she scored it’s fastest hundred and was leading run scorer in the group stages . . .

“It was a very good experience, my first overseas tournament. Especially because more than cricket, it actually changed me as a person too. In India we are not used to doing work on our own, we have people and we are very pampered here at home. In England it was very different, we had to do our own laundry and we had to cook our own food. Even with our net sessions, we had to plan it on our own, we had to tell the coach that today we want to do this, this, this, and that was what would happen.

It’s changed me even as a person and it’s helped me to grow in cricket. Sharing the dressing room with some of the world’s best female cricketers like Alyssa Healy, Lauren Winfield and all these people, it gives you an experience that I don’t think I would have got in India, to play with these people and to learn from them. Yes of course, scoring always gives you a lot of boost, so that was a confidence booster for me, looking ahead to the world cup which is coming.”

Where her Christian faith started . . .

 “It was what my parents taught me from a very young age, it used to be like this for us, our day had to start by praying, if we didn’t pray then we did not play. Now, if I don’t pray then I feel like something is missing. It was my parents who instilled this in us. I have never faced a problem in finding a church and I didn’t have issues with following Christ.”

How she intends to use her sporting platform to point others to Jesus . . .

 “I am privileged that I am getting this opportunity, to do what I love as well as glorify the name of Jesus through that. The thing is that I believe God’s calling for our lives is so much more than just ourselves. It’s for reaching out to others and winning them for Christ, so whenever I get the opportunity I would like to share the the good news and point them to Jesus. I was a very fearful and an anxious person, even sometimes now I still have that, but it is only through reading the bible that I am able to overcome those fears and get out of it.

Honestly I will tell you, I never even thought that I would get so far, if you’d have seen me when I was really small, I used to literally cry before going to school, I was a very fearful person. I think if you had interviewed my teachers back then, no one would have ever believed that this girl will one day go and play in front of thousands of people and hit these boundaries.

I believe that if you can give the little that you have into God’s hands, then he can do wonderful things through that. I am an example of that, I can say, by the grace of God.”

How her faith helps her to deal with failure, which is a big part of playing Cricket . . .

 “So I can tell you about one point in my life, I think it was in 2014 or 2015, where I had just done an India u19 camp and I’d come back. I thought ok, this next domestic season is going to be a very good season. All of the selectors had a lot of expectation of me and I had a lot of expectation from me! That season did not turn out well, I literally played around 40-50 games and only had one fifty. For my calibre that was very small.

I used to go out there, try but things were not working out, So I would say I will do it tomorrow. So many times I have come in the room and cried and at that time I felt like giving up on cricket. But then, this one scripture from the bible, Jeremiah 29;11, that scripture touched me at that time. It says: ‘I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’

I don’t know what it was, but something on the inside was like, hey, if God has not given up on you, how can you give up on yourself? He can turn this around for me. That scripture actually kept me going and I just think, what would have happened if I had given up then, I wouldn’t have seen all of this happen in my life. But, I am grateful, I was able to continue and things worked out for me.”

Connecting with other Christian Cricketers from around the world . . .

“I met people actually during the Kia Super League who were believers in Christ. I met Mignon Du Preez and when we had gone to New Zealand, I met Katie Perkins. It was so nice to find other people who have this faith in God, you sit and you just chat. You feel so good and so motivated to hear their stories and how God has been such an important part of their life.

So, I really enjoyed it and recently during the South Africa tour, when they came to India, me and Mignon Du Preez were just sat chatting about our lives and faith. I really loved and enjoyed that time. I was just thinking, if it was not cricket I would not have met these amazing people and spoken, so I was very happy.”

Her advice to young aspiring cricketers around the world . . .

“I would say, keep dreaming! If you have a dream do anything it takes to chase that dream. Even when difficult times come, you will look back like me and think, thank God I continued because I wouldn’t be where I am today. So I will just say, keep chasing your dream because as Sachin Tendulkar said, dreams do come true!”