Jemimah Rodrigues’ journey through the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup unfolded as one of the tournament’s most compelling storylines, culminating in her unforgettable unbeaten 127 in the semifinal against Australia. The innings has already entered conversations about the greatest World Cup knocks, earning comparisons to Harmanpreet Kaur’s iconic 171 from 2017. Yet the path to that moment was anything but smooth, shaped by early setbacks, selection uncertainty and a mental reset that helped her deliver when it mattered most.
Her campaign began in disarray. Rodrigues opened the tournament with scores of 0 and 32 against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, followed by another dismissal for nought against South Africa. Those returns led to her exclusion from the XI for the encounter against England, a moment that could easily have derailed her tournament. Instead, it became a turning point. Recalled for the clash against New Zealand, she steadied India’s innings with a vital 76, guiding the team to an important win and signalling a shift in rhythm.
Confidence grew from that innings, and by the time the semifinal arrived, Rodrigues had found a clarity of purpose. Facing Australia in a high-stakes contest, she crafted an innings defined by resilience and control, guiding India to a position from which they secured a place in the final. The performance became one of the defining contributions in India’s run to their first-ever World Cup title.
However, the aftermath of the semifinal created a different kind of challenge. The attention was relentless, disrupting her preparation for the match that mattered most.
“After the semi-final knock, my phone just kept buzzing and buzzing. I was getting calls from everywhere. I don’t know how random people started getting my number. I had, I’m not even over-exaggerating, but I had 1000 WhatsApp messages. I couldn’t take it because firstly, a lot had happened in that game. A lot of my emotions itself were there. I’m preparing for a final and the tournament is not over. Yes, I played a knock. Yes, we won. Yes, India was in the final. But, we still had a World Cup final to win,” Jemimah said in an interview with Cricbuzz.
Jemimah revealed that there was no place for mental peace
The constant stream of messages left her no mental space to recover or plan for the final.
“After a certain point, it just started getting too much for me that I uninstalled WhatsApp. I messaged my close ones, like 4-5 of them, that just either call me or we can chat on a normal message, but I am uninstalling WhatsApp. Because even if I was not reading the message, it was just buzzing. And I just knew that people were messaging me and I just wanted to prepare for the finals. So, till the finals, I didn’t install WhatsApp. I was off social media, maybe put one post-match post, but I was off otherwise until the World Cup final,” she added.