"I love hitting the balls to the boundary": Jemimah Rodrigues

India's wonder kid Jemimah Rodrigues has been going through a wonderful stage in her cricketing career. As an important part of the squad, she has played a blistering inning along with captain Harmanpreet Kaur on their opening day against New Zealand. Her 59 came off 45 balls and her 134 runs partnership with captain Kaur became the highest-ever total in the history of the Women's World T20.



Having started at an early age, she got selected in the U-19 team at the age of 12. Though cricket came a little later in her life as she started playing hockey before cricket. "I started playing hockey at the age of 8. Our father of the church gave me a hockey stick and told me to play. I got selected for the state team within 1 year and I was so happy. So, my dad was like ok, she is going to make her career in hockey and the next thing happened was I started playing cricket too and since then I reached the highest place in cricket, so I chose that rather than hockey."



"I am an attacking batsman and I love hitting the balls to the boundary," said Jemimah Rodrigues about her batting.



Talking about her, captain Harmanpreet Kaur said, "she enjoys to go for big shots. She is not the one who will just go and spend some time. From the very first ball, she likes to charge."



Her best friend in the team and the star opener Smriti Mandhana told, "She is very talented as a batsman everyone knows that I don't need to say anything about it. She is the one for the future."



Rodrigues shared her memories about her early age. "I remember I started playing cricket because of my brothers. I was a small girl about 2-3 years old and I couldn't say quietly. I picked up the bat and I started playing cricket. I remember my first bat was a plastic bat my grandfather gifted me."



"I cried at that time (about her selection in the cricket) because I really love hockey. Now if I get any chance I'll go and play hockey. It has been a roller-coaster journey for me. I had to mature early because when I made my debut for the state I was 12 years old and I started playing for U-19. I had to learn quickly how to gel up with these people."



She remembered that after one tournament she called her dad and said, "Dad, I want to join a gym. When these people hit the ball, they travel so much, when I hit it, it's less. As, I can't give an excuse that I am too small or I am too young. I have to compete with them, I have to be their standard."



She remembered her sacrifices which she did at an early age for cricket. "At the age of 7 or 8, I wanted to go with my cousin, family members etc. That time only men's cricket was going then. I also wanted to go for a vacation but I had to go for matches. But now when I look back, it's like hard work paid off."



"As a kid, I always wanted to play the World Cup and now it's happening."