PANAJI
Jemimah Rodrigues was one of the star performers in the Indian women’s cricket team that lifted their maiden Cricket World Cup in Navi Mumbai last week.
The 25-year-old right-hand batter from Mumbai has a unique Goa connection, though. Jemimah’s coach and mentor, Prashant Shetty, was the assistant coach of the Goa Ranji team during the 2023-24 season. In fact, Shetty, who has been associated with the MIG Cricket Academy in Bandra, Mumbai, has been Jemimah's coach since she was nine.
Shetty, a former Ranji Trophy player and BCCI-certified coach, informed The Goan that Jemimah had come to Goa in January 2024 at the Goa Cricket Academy ground at Porvorim to take training under him in order to improve her batting technique.
He said, “Jemimah had come to Goa last year. This was in January 2024 when Goa was playing a Ranji Trophy match against Punjab at Porvorim. Since I was the assistant coach of the Goa Ranji team, I was travelling most of the time with the Goa team. Hence, we (Jemimah and myself) could not practise together. That is the reason why she came to Goa for training since I could not go to Mumbai at that time. We had a discussion that we could practise over here in Goa. Jemimah wanted to improve her batting technique before the WPL season that year.”
Shetty further added, “She was there in Goa for four days. You must have seen her on television; she does that shimmy. From the right leg she comes forward charging towards the bowler. That is what she extensively practised in Goa. This was the first time she had tried that shot. I told her that she could do that and that is what she took from Goa.”
In the World Cup semi-finals against Australia, Jemimah scored an unbeaten 127, helping India pull off the record run chase of 339. “She played the innings of her lifetime during that match,” her coach said.
Shetty still remembers the day 16 years ago when Jemimah came to the MIG Cricket Academy for the first time, when she was just nine years old.
"Her brother was already at the MIG Cricket Academy, and her parents asked us to take a look at her, too. The very first ball she faced, she hit a cover drive, and we instantly knew she was special. We watched her for ten minutes and were convinced she had serious talent. We told her parents to encourage her to pursue cricket, even though she was also playing hockey and football at the time. She clearly had something unique,” Shetty said.
