Mid-Day Anniversary: Jemi’s Jamming It, India’s Winning It!

Mumbaibased Team India batter Jemimah Rodrigues 25 is a personality with multiple traits As a kid she began wielding her hockey stick successfully at interschool competitions and statelevel meets before switching it for another piece of wood a cricket bat again successfully at that Therersquos another piece of wood that she melodiously switches to and thatrsquos her guitar which has ensured this Indian womenrsquos cricket team are stringing together their success storyJemimah is clearly the flagbearer of keeping things cool in Indian womenrsquos cricket while sweating and even shedding a few tears in betweenFrom breaking down emotionally after playing the ldquoinnings of a lifetimerdquo mdash an unbeaten 134ball 127 mdash as the hosts and eventual world champions conquered the mighty Australians in the 2025 ICC Womenrsquos ODI World Cup semifinal at Navi Mumbai to jumping with joy after Indiarsquos 270run win over England in the first ever womenrsquos Test in 142 years at the iconic Lordrsquos Jemimah has had some serious fun en route And thatrsquos the reason in this interview with midday she insists that offfield aspects like team dinners team bonding activities karaoke nights and even social media reelmaking are crucial for onfield successEdited excerpts from the interviewCould you tell us what this Indian team does to chillWe do have quite a few team dinners usually and thatrsquos when it depends on what the theme is So we either just go out to a nice place and talk or there are some fun games arranged there and we play and do this fun stuff which definitely helps the team bond better Also sometimes we just go out like recently what we did as a team bonding thing was we went out to play Paintball Battling around that Paintball pitch was so much funWe know you are brilliant at the guitar So how do you guys plan these jam sessions Is it you who initiates them and are your teammates always ready to sing alongUsually I bring my guitar along for say maybe a long bus journey But sometimes itrsquos just very spontaneous or maybe while wersquore having a team dinner and if therersquos something like a karaoke or maybe if Irsquom asked to play the guitar I go for itJemimah with Smriti MandhanaTell us about the fun reels you and your teammates make on social mediaEvery player has her own social media platform so they have their own way of putting their stuff out there If we do it as a team itrsquos always spontaneous so nobody plans anything We find something cool something funny and we end up saying lsquoHey guys do you want to do thisrsquo and thatrsquos how we simply come together and do itCoach Amol Muzumdar is known to be quite the serious type What do you guys do when you have to make him laugh or lighten the atmosphere around himI think people generally tend to assume that Amol sir is quite the serious type but he actually loves having fun In fact hersquos the one who is superenthu when it comes to team bonding sessions and getting the team together He enjoys his team bonding sessions and loves it when everyone is just having fun and having a good timeInternational cricket comes with its fair share of pressures and more so at a World Cup or at your recent Test at Lordrsquos How do you guys strike that balance between work and playWhile playing international cricket one thingrsquos for sure therersquos always going to be pressure But yoursquove got to enjoy the pressure because whatrsquos the fun if therersquos no pressure So even as a team we try and embrace pressure enjoy it have some fun in between itrsquos important to have that balance between being too focused and too serious or having too much fun as well So somewhere in between you strike that balance and thatrsquos what comes with being a professional cricketer You know how and when to strike that balance and you know how to enjoy your cricket and the pressure along with itJemimah with Arundhati Reddy left and Shreyanka Patil rightBeing someone who values all formats of the game what did this Lordrsquos Test win mean to youJust to realise for a young girl to be a part of such a historic Test which is being played at Lordrsquos after 140odd years felt extremely special It was way beyond whatever I couldrsquove ever dreamt of or asked for Irrespective of the result mdash if you just keep the result aside for some time mdash just to know that yoursquore a part of history a part of a historic event at Lordrsquos I mean who gets to play a Test match at Lordrsquos and win it too So just imagining it was nice and winning it feels great I will always hold that Test match close to my heartFor a young girl like you coming from suburban Mumbai dreaming big and winning the World Cup title and now achieving Test success at the iconic Lordrsquos whatrsquos your message to Indiarsquos young girlsEverything starts with a dream My message to Indiarsquos young girls is dream big because the best part about dreams is that therersquos no limit So the best thing they can do is just dream as much as possible and then go out there and do whatever it takes to achieve that dream Also one last thing Irsquod like to advise everyone that while chasing your own dreams help someone else achieve theirs because trust me therersquos no bigger satisfaction in life than that127 not outJemimahrsquos matchwinning score against Australia in the 2025 ICC Womenrsquos ODI World Cup semifinal at Navi Mumbai