new delhi: India’s women’s World Cup-winning star Jemimah Rodrigues said she “enjoys” leadership and would wholeheartedly embrace the captaincy of the national team if the responsibility comes her way in the future.
India lifted the Women’s World Cup by defeating South Africa under 36-year-old stalwart Harmanpreet Kaur in November, with Jemimah played the innings of her lifetime in the semifinal against seven-time champions Australia, where she scored an unbeaten century.
She will be now be leading Delhi Capitals in the Women’s Premier League (WPL), commencing Friday, with the young Mumbai player’s leadership skills likely to be closely followed as India look to the future. “I’ve always enjoyed leading, I’ve led my state team and even the Challengers Trophy, the zone team...a lot in domestic (cricket). I genuinely feel that, having that added responsibility as a leader, it gets the best out of me because as a leader, then you have to lead from the front,” said Jemimah.
“I think, that’s (leading the country) the motivation for me and it really gets the best out of me. Definitely, you know, leading in a state (tournament) like the WPL, it’s going to be great learnings for me, a great experience at the same time and not just develop me as a captain, but also as a player. Because, you know, you have to start thinking out of the box...I’m always thinking what the batter is going to do or what the bowler is going to do.”