The Indian women’s cricket team defeated Australia in the semi-finals. Australia, batting first, set the highest target in Women’s World Cup history, 338 runs.
But Jemimah Rodrigues led the team to victory with a blistering 127 runs off 134 balls. Initially, Smriti Mandhana was dismissed for 24 and Shefali Verma for 10, leaving the score at 59/2. From there, Jemimah took charge.
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Repeated Kapil Dev’s innings
IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal was full of praise for Jemimah. He said that this innings was like Kapil Dev’s unbeaten 175 against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup.
At that time, India was 17/5, and Kapil single-handedly turned the match around.
Dhumal said, “It was phenomenal to watch Jemimah, the way she played the way she did yesterday. In fact, none of us remembers Kapil Dev’s innings against Zimbabwe.
So she replayed that innings, you know, that was played for the quarter-final, and Jemimah did what Kapil Paji did long back, which unfortunately wasn’t broadcast, but this was fortunately broadcast.”
Harmanpreet Kaur scored 89, Deepti Sharma 24, and Richa Ghosh 26. Jemimah also had two dropped catches, luck favoring her.
Jemimah’s form was poor in the group stage, scoring 0, 32, 0, 33, and was even dropped in the England match. But Mumbai’s local hero delighted the home fans in the semi-finals.
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Best Innings of the ICC Tournament
Dhumal called it the best innings of the entire tournament.
He said, “The entire India and the entire world watched how Jemimah led the team and the way she played when the team was down under. Smriti had been on a phenomenal run in this tournament, but we lost a wicket and the way she played under pressure.
It was a phenomenal inning, and she fought till the finish. And the way she played this winning innings outplayed every other inning in this tournament.”
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India will now face South Africa in the final. The match will be played on Sunday at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Australia’s dream of defending the title was shattered. Jemimah’s innings set a new record for the highest successful chase in the Women’s World Cup.
