Jemimah Rodrigues looked a class apart in the second ODI against Bangladesh, and India really needs more of this from her, writes Sarah Waris.

Destined for greatness after she smashed a counter-attacking 37 in 27 balls in a T20I against South Africa in 2018, Rodrigues’ cricketing career in the last five years has seen more stops than exhilarating moments. Still without an international hundred, Rodrigues relied on her tremendous domestic showings to maintain her standing. It was, afterall, a 1,013-run season in 2017-2018 for the state under-19 team that fast-tracked her to play for India.

From the famed ‘Bombay School of Batsmanship’, Rodrigues’ career has failed to take off as one would have expected five years ago. Her T20I average after 83 matches is 29.18, but more importantly, her strike rate of 112.74, indicates her struggles. In ODIs, she averages only 22.27 with four fifties in 23 innings. In the 50-over format, Rodrigues has never scored more than 20 in consecutive innings, racking up 13 single-digit scores – a whopping 56 percent of all her innings in the format.

From her ODI debut in 2018 to 2019, Rodrigues featured in 16 of India’s 21 matches, averaging 24.80. Slotted in at her preferred opening position, Rodrigues either excelled or miserably failed. She made six scores of 40 or more but also had eight scores of fewer than ten – it was all or nothing. Around the same time when she was undergoing this roller-coaster, Shafali Verma was making waves with the T20I team. Her heroics helped take India to the final of the T20 World Cup in 2020, and she was lurking around the ODI set-up as well.

After a year-long break due to the pandemic, Rodrigues continued in the opener’s role against South Africa and England in 2021. But scores of 1, 9, 0, 8 and 4 effectively sealed the deal for her. India inducted Verma into the ODI set-up as an opener, while Rodrigues did not play ODIs again for two years. She failed to even make the World Cup squad last year.

With a locked top-order, led by Smriti Mandhana, Verma, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur, Rodrigues did not fit into the XI, with India looking to stack up their team with all-rounders instead. She is also not the biggest power-hitter and with Raj around, having the duo bat together would have only stalled the run flow in the middle overs.

Now, with Raj gone, India need someone of Rodrigues’ calibre to step up and attempt to fill the former captain’s boots. Since Raj retired, only three India batters have played more than three ODIs and average over 40 – Mandhana, Kaur and Deepti Sharma. Deepti has batted above No.6 only once in this period, leaving only two top-order batters to take on the responsibility match after match. With Verma losing form – and her place in the XI – that pressure has only mounted.

A firing Rodrigues could solve a lot. She has an ODI strike rate of 72 and could anchor the innings, allowing the hitters, Mandhana and Kaur, to play their natural game instead of cautiously. On some days, she can also change gears. Against Bangladesh, on a tricky surface, she was the only one who got to ten and had a strike rate of over 100 across both teams.

Walking in at 68-3, India’s batting seemed to be going down a familiar route, with Mandhana making 36 and Kaur getting off to a start. The batters around them crumbled, and an embarrassing series loss was on the cards when Kaur walked off midway due to an injury.

Rodrigues, though, played tactfully, starting off slowly and then hitting six fours in 12 balls towards the end of her innings to ensure India ended on a high. The ‘all-rounder’ also picked up four wickets with the ball to throw herself into an elite list, but while expecting similar figures in the future is far-fetched, hoping she converts her 86 into bigger, more consistent scores, is not.

A place is up for grabs in the India team, with the side desperately in search of answers to their batting woes, and it could be Rodrigues’ for the taking. She has shown her mettle previously ample times, with gritty knocks when her teams have been down. Both she and India will hope she can translate that into more impactful returns.

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