Indian women’s cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues has decided to return to hockey and feature n a tournament after her World Cup snub. Rodrigues recently failed to make the cut for the Indian team at the ICC Women’s World Cup.
The squad for the Women’s World Cup was announced by head coach Ramesh Powar recently and batter Jemimah Rodrigues failed to make the cut for the forthcoming ICC Women’s World Cup in New Zealand.
While her teammates will feature at the World Cup in New Zealand, the batter will take up the hockey stick and don the jersey of the Uncle’s Kitchen United Sports team at the Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana Rink Tournament in Mumbai.
However, the 21-year-old is not the only one to miss the squad for the World Cup. Along with the young batter, Powar has excluded players like Shikha Pandey and Punam Raut. They have been a regular member of the team in recent years and their absence caused a serious shock among the fans and supporters of Indian cricket.
After excluding Rodrigues from the Women’s World Cup team, head coach Ramesh Powar said, “If you don’t perform, you don’t get your chances.” He indicated the statement towards the three players who have missed the flight to New Zealand.
Jemimah has been playing hockey since her childhood days. Her dribbling skills are sensational and her stick work was lauded by many when she was a kid. Jemimah even represented Maharashtra’s U-17 hockey team at an early age of just nine.
The crafty top-order batter has played a lot of hockey during her childhood represented her school St Joseph’s at the MSSA (Mumbai Sports School Association), an inter-school hockey league.
The 21-year-old was once considered one of India’s trailblazers. Her fantastic strokeplay and ability to adapt to situations caught the eye of the selectors. Jemimah Rodrigues has featured for India in 21 One Day Internationals and 50 Twenty20 Internationals for the Indian eves scoring 1449 runs across all formats. She has scored three fifties for the country in One Day internationals while scoring six half-centuries in T20 format.
Rodrigues impressed former Indian goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza with her skills with the hockey stick. D’Souza feels that it is impressive how the youngster has rekindled her interest in hockey despite being a regular international cricketer.
