"Feels good to be back, still haven't removed my India jersey" - Jemimah Rodrigues on her comeback against SL-W
Young star Jemimah Rodrigues made an impactful return to the Indian women's team in the first T20I against Sri Lanka.
Rodrigues played a handy cameo of 36 to ensure that India reached a fighting total of 138/6 in their 20 overs. She won the Player of the Match award for her stellar performance as the visitors won by 34 runs.
The 21-year-old was notably left out of India's squad for the ICC Women's World Cup earlier this year. Consequently, it was an even sweeter moment for her personally as she won the game for her team on her comeback.
A vital knock 👍
Last-over blitz 💥
Sensational catch 🙌
Post-match conversations with @JemiRodrigues and @Deepti_Sharma06 as they discuss it all after #TeamIndia's win in the first #SLvIND T20I. 👏 🎥 https://t.co/7SW9t6JJOs
After the game, Jemimah Rodrigues spoke about her time away from the national team. She told all-rounder Deepti Sharma after the game in a video posted by BCCI Women on their social media handles:
"It definitely feels good to be back in the India Blue. I still haven't removed my India jersey because it feels so good (laughs)."
Rodrigues added:
"Last few months I got a lot of time to work on a few things and played a lot of matches with the boys. So that gave me the confidence going into domestic [season], the IPL [Women's T20 Challenge] and then here. So I was batting really well and I knew the team needed me."
Back in the blues 🇮🇳
#SLvIND https://t.co/OdyRJwn4ik
I knew Deepti Sharma will smash it in the end: Jemimah Rodrigues
Deepti Sharma also played a wonderful hand down the order, as she scored 17 runs off just eight balls to propel India's innings at the back-end. Jemimah Rodrigues shares a great camaraderie with Sharma and claimed that she knew the southpaw would make the most of the last over. She stated:
"I knew if I stay till the end, Deepti will come and smash it around (laughs). So, I think our partnership was small but important and the team needed it."
Deepti Sharma also spoke about her thought process going into the final over:
"First of all, both of us played together after a long time so it felt quite nice. The way we planned, especially taking the singles on offer and also score as many runs as we can in the last over. My focus was on getting as many twos and boundaries as we can in the last over and it worked out well."
The second T20I will be played at Dambulla on Saturday, June 25.