In the second ODI, India lost by three runs after missing as many as seven chances under Harmanpreet Kaur‘s leadership. The Women in Blue lost the third ODI on Tuesday by an emphatic margin of 190 runs. Jemimah Rodrigues has admitted that India’s fielding was not up to par.
Jemimah Rodrigues has accepted that India’s fielding performance was poor against Australia during their 0-3 home loss. The best batter in the lineup, who had scored a total of 151 runs in three ODIs, admitted that they had been making too many mistakes and but they will “come back stronger,” she said.
For a very long time, the women’s team has struggled tremendously with fielding. It’s comparable to the departmental problems faced by the men’s team when they started getting regular international matches following the 1960s.
“We’ve not played to our highest potential, especially in the fielding department”-Jemimah Rodrigues
Jemimah Rodrigues, who showed exceptional performance with the bat during the series, stated that they have to accept the errors they have made and try to learn from them. She stated that they would work on their mistakes and come back stronger.
“I don’t think there’s any reason we can give, we need to accept what we’ve done. We’ve not played to our highest potential, especially in the fielding department there’s a lot of work we need to still continue (doing). We have been working on it but definitely not the standard expected from the Indian women’s cricket team. But I can assure you that we will work on it and come back stronger,” said Jemimah Rodrigues.
Jemimah Rodrigues went on to say that she wouldn’t blame anything because they were getting all the facilities they wanted, practices under floodlights, and everything. She said that it’s just something they need to really work on.
“I don’t think it’s anything to do with fatigue. I think it’s just something we need to really work on. I wouldn’t blame anything because we’ve been getting everything – the practices we want, the light practices (under floodlights) and everything. I just can’t say it was a bad day because a bad day can’t keep on coming again and again. But again I’m telling you, we promise you that we are going to work hard on this aspect,” she added.
“We Need A Little More Time” Jemimah Rodrigues On Gelling Together With The New Coaching Staff
Despite the fact that the team’s facilities are comparable to those used by the men, several commentators have also linked the mistakes to the coaching staff’s inconsistent performance. Amol Mazumdar, the new coach, was appointed only in October 2023, ten months after the previous coach, Romesh Powar, resigned.
Jemimah Rodrigues added that in order to proceed, the group needs a little more time to come together and fully align with Mazumdar and his staff.
“It’s a new coaching staff. We’ve not spent a lot of time with Amol sir, whatever time we’ve spent is just before the series could start. But before that, for Amol sir to understand the girls, I think he’s done his homework before coming in. But then coming in and gelling up, and even for the girls to gel up with Amol sir…because it’s not easy whenever a new coach comes in but I think the best part of our team was everyone gelled up well. And everyone understood each other and the roles really well and really quick,” said Jemimah Rodrigues.
Jemimah Rodrigues further added that they have received a lot of assistance from Amol Sir, and the girls have gelled up wonderfully with him. She said that now it’s just about how they are going to get better.
“But of course we need a little more time, maybe some camp where we can actually get to work together even more because that’s just going to help us. But I think having Amol sir has really helped us a lot and the girls have gelled up really well with him. We are very comfortable and he’s very comfortable with us. But for us it’s just about how we are going to get better. About the T20s we’ve not had a conversation yet, because we kept it for after the ODIs, we wanted to go one match at a time,” she added.