Women’s T20 World Cup 2024: ‘Every game from here is crucial for us,’ says Jemimah after New Zealand thrashing

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side crashed to a heavy 58-run defeat against the Kiwis on Friday night, and the Women in Blue will now face cross-border rival Pakistan on Sunday in the second Group A match.

FILE PHOTO: Rodrigues urged the team not to panic but to focus on the process. | Photo Credit: THE HINDU

Middle-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues urged India to ‘move on’ from the forgettable defeat against New Zealand and focus on the upcoming matches, which she termed as ‘crucial’ for her side’s survival in the Women’s T20 World Cup.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side crashed to a heavy 58-run defeat against the Kiwis on Friday night, and the Women in Blue will now face cross-border rival Pakistan on Sunday in the second Group A match.

“This would be the game we would like to forget, because this is a World Cup. We need to keep moving on and keep picking ourselves up. We can’t stay stuck at this game. I think that will show the character of this team,” Rodrigues said in the post-match press meet.

Rodrigues urged the team not to panic but to focus on the process, which has earned it some good wins in the past.

“We have been doing really well as a team, sticking to the process and taking one game at a time. We know every game from here is so crucial for us. We’re going to go one game at a time and just make sure we stick to our process. And I think if we can do that, if we play our best cricket, I think we can win matches,” she added.

The 24-year-old from Mumbai said they were expecting New Zealand to come hard in the match, but failed to respond to the challenge.

“They (NZ) came out with a lot of intent. We did create opportunities, but unfortunately, we didn’t make the most of them. But I think then the way we came back after the start (of NZ) was – I mean not many positives in this game – but still going forward we need to have the right approach because this tournament’s not over,” she noted.

Rodrigues said playing at No. 4 did not offer any different challenge to her, but the batter rued the fact that she did not stay at the crease long enough to build a partnership.

“Playing at number four…I think it’s not much change for me in my mindset because I know with my game, I’m ready to bat anywhere the team wants me to bat. I was batting well, I had some form going on, even in the warm-up games. It was my responsibility that I should have made sure we built a partnership after losing wickets,” she said.

We moved on: Rodrigues on Kerr run out

On the controversial run-out episode involving Amelia Kerr, Rodrigues said the team felt a bit hard done at that time, but they didn’t have much choice other than going by the umpire’s decision to call the ball dead.

“I was not there when the umpire gave the cap to Deepti [Sharma]. New Zealand were pretty sure that it was a double run and Amelia Kerr went out which showed that the over was not called out yet. We all thought that we got that run out. What if that run out wouldn’t happen? Would they give us a two for that? At the end, we respect the decision of the umpire and we were okay with that. But yeah, it’s a bit harsh when Amelia Kerr herself walked out, because she knew she was out,” she explained.

But Rodrigues said the team handled the whole situation with a lot of maturity.

“We know how important Amelia Kerr’s wicket is and at that moment it felt a little, you know, why didn’t it go in our favour? But I think we did what we can. We spoke to the umpire, and then we had to accept the decision and move on. So, I think that’s what we did really well, and I think we got her out pretty soon, so that worked for us,” she said.