‘Just go all out’: Rodrigues looks to Australian mindset

India batter Jemimah Rodrigues is hoping to apply the Australian “mindset” she has picked up from her WBBL team-mates in her game.

Rodrigues, who’s back in the tournament for her third stint having last played in 2022 for Melbourne Stars, has played four games so far for Brisbane Heat. She scored a 40-ball 61 in a match-winning effort against Adelaide Strikers after scores of 13 and 5 in the previous two games, crediting the turnaround to her Heat team-mates’ encouragement to play “positively”.

“I think the last two innings of mine [in the WBBL] didn’t go that well,” Rodrigues said. “Grace Harris and Laura Harris both of them texted me and said, ‘Jemi, your over extra cover drive is the best. Don’t stop yourself from playing that. Even if you get out, it’s fine. But just keep dominating’. So I think that really helped me in [the Strikers] knock just to have that kind of backing firstly from your team that the team still believes in you and at the same time, just they’re like, ‘No, we’re still going to take the positive route. We’re still going to play positive cricket and bat with intent’.

“So 100%, that mindset – just to learn from them [Australians]. There’s a saying always that if there are two options, always take the positive one. So I think that is something I have also been really working on in my game and just to have people around you after two failures, I had those doubts – ‘should I still play with this mindset or should I not?’. They were like ‘just go all out’ and that really helped me. This is something that I will take with me 100% hopefully bring it out with the Aussies and just continue to do well.”

Rodrigues feels facing other international bowlers in leagues around the world is good for her confidence, especially with the ODI World Cup scheduled in less than a year.

“Playing these foreign leagues and playing the WPL, it does help because you play against the best in the world in all these leagues and at the same time you get to play in different conditions,” she said. “Every ground is so different to the other and I think that is one of the best parts of playing franchise cricket that you get used to the conditions and you get to play the top bowlers in women ‘s cricket.

“Imagine just going out there and doing well, how much confidence you’ll get coming back into the Indian team when you’ve taken on these bowlers. So I think it’s a good preparation leading into the World Cup. At the same time, it’s just good games because the more matches we play, the better we become. I think that’s the best part about having WBBL, the WPL, the Hundred, the Caribbean Premier League, all the leagues.”

India started their preparation for the World Cup with three ODIs against New Zealand at home recently, which they won 2-1. Their next assignment is against Australia in December when they will play three ODIs in Brisbane and Perth. Rodrigues believes playing in the WBBL will be good preparation for the ODIs despite the format being different.

“For me, nothing much changes in my technique,” Rodrigues said. “Nothing much will even change in my mindset. I think I will still back myself to play positive cricket, but at the same time being more sensible because it’s a longer format and trying to extend this innings even longer, scoring more and more runs for India. So I think that’s the similar mindset. Again, it’s about how I assess the conditions and assess the situation.”

Recently, the ICC successfully trialled an AI tool to eliminate social media abuse in the women’s game. Rodrigues welcomed the move, saying she was glad the players don’t have to deal with it anymore and focus just on playing.

“I think that was a very good initiative by the ICC. I remember when I had gone in that line because sometimes social media can be harsh. At the end we all are humans, we all are we here doing our best, trying to do whatever we can. Some ways we are great. Some ways we are not. So it’s just harsh when we see people just commenting all sorts of things on social media. But it was such a nice thing from ICC just to protect us and just to keep the game so pure. We [needed to] just go out there and play cricket and enjoy cricket than dealing with all these things. So it was, it was really nice from ICC.”