Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana have been best friends both on and off the field. But when the Women’s Premier League (WPL) gets underway this weekend, the two friends will be in different teams, fulfilling their respective duties.
Jemimah will be the vice-captain of Delhi Capitals, while Smriti will be leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore when they square off in the league’s opening game at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday. And, ahead of the big game, Jemimah wants to put aside the friendship and ensure that Delhi puts the best foot forward.
“Smriti who?” Jemimah joked when asked about their friendship and then quickly added with a smile, “actually, we both were hoping that we are not in the same team. We just wanted to play against each other because the rivalry between the best friends is obviously more. We are looking forward to it.”
“Till now, I have not met her on the ground but if I do meet her, I will definitely try and ignore her. I will be loyal to my team. Both the teams are good, so it’s going to be a good match to start our tournament with,” she said.
In an event on Thursday, Delhi Capitals named Jemimah as the vice-captain of the side, while Meg Lanning was appointed the leader and the Mumbai-based Jemimah is looking forward to the opportunity.
“It’s a great opportunity for me. It’s a dream come true moment for every women cricketer and athlete. It’s also great to be the vice-captain of this great bunch and I love taking responsibilities.
“I am also looking forward to working closely with Meg Lanning and JB (coach Jonathan Batty). It’s going to be a lot of learning and I will try to absorb it all,” she said.
Lanning, too, admitted that she will rely on her deputy Jemimah for inputs on local Indian players.
“I have always enjoyed this captaincy role for the Mumbai team because I feel that brings the best out of me. Being the vice-captain of this team is a huge opportunity for me at 22 and at the same time, both JB and Lanning are experienced and they know how to handle such situations.
“Whenever needed, I will be there to communicate and also to pass on the messages. They have not seen much of our domestic set-up, so I would be able to help on that front,” Jemimah said.
The Indian players come into the tournament on the back of a heartbreak against Australia in the T20 World Cup semifinals and Jemimah believes that though the team is yet to come to terms with the defeat, the WPL will take their minds off the disappointment.
“It’s not been easy after losing the semifinals. The last few days have been really tough for us. It took us a while and we still haven’t gotten over it. It’s also a blessing in disguise because we now have the WPL and it will help us in getting involved in it and get busy. It will help us take our minds off the World Cup, but again those thoughts will keep haunting us,” she said.
The Delhi Capitals will also be relying on Shafali Verma, who has failed to convert starts into big totals lately. Jemimah, being a senior cricketer, backed Shafali.
“Shifu is mature enough. She has played enough cricket and so she knows the situations. But then yes, if there’s anything, she will obviously come and ask - be it whoever me, Smriti or Harman and we are okay with helping her. But she needs to give her some time because it happens in cricket. It’s not that she is not batting well, it’s just a matter of time that she converts that into big scores,” she said.
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