Tutorial from a legend for Jemimah Rodrigues

The 18-year-old batter trains under the watchful eyes of her idol Sachin Tendulkar at the Middlesex Global Academy here.

Jemimah's Master Class: Jemimah Rodrigues (left) with Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai on Thursday. Photo: Emmanual Yogini

Since childhood, Jemimah Rodrigues, the Indian women’s team batter, has considered Sachin Tendulkar her idol. On Thursday, the 18-year-old got an opportunity to train under the watchful eyes of the cricket legend at the Tendulkar Middlesex Global Academy here.

Jemimah spent quite a bit of time at the nets with Tendulkar. They discussed technique, and Jemimah even sought the Master’s advice on shot selection.

“It’s a big thing for me to get advice and word of encouragement from him. It’s just a motivation for me to go out and do better for the country,” an excited Jemimah told Sportstar .

With Tendulkar’s advice, Jemimah now wants to focus on practice. “I always want to get better and I am working on a few shots and how I can develop my game from the past experience,” she said.

‘Very special’ tourney

Jemimah will be travelling to Jaipur later on Thursday for the Women’s T20 Challenge which begins next week. Looking ahead to the tourney, she said, “This IPL is going to be very special for me. I will get to meet new players and get good exposure. It is obviously going to give us some experience for the World Cup. Looking forward to having many more IPL matches like this and specific tournaments for women.”

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The tournament, which begins on Monday, May 6, 2019, will have a total of four games. Last year, a one-off Women’s T20 Challenge featuring two teams — Supernovas and Trailblazers — was held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai ahead of the IPL Qualifier. Despite top players featuring in the game and the match telecast live on television, half the stands were empty owing to a 2pm start.

‘Amazing’

This time, the matches are to begin at 7.30 pm. The organisers are optimistic of a better response, and so is Jemimah.

“It’s an amazing thing by the BCCI. We should thank them because we got to play the four matches. Each and every match is a new experience and it is an amazing for us. On behalf of everybody, I would like to thank the BCCI. We never even thought that this will happen. We hope this goes out well and we have more matches,” Jemimah said.