India batter Jemimah Rodrigues opened up about her personal struggles after leading the side over the finish line against Australia in the semi-final of the Women's World Cup. She revealed that she was going through anxiety before the commencement of the World Cup and used to call her mother and cry endlessly. She further said that her parents supported her during the tough time.
"I'll be very vulnerable here because I know if someone is watching this - might be going through the same thing and that's my whole purpose of saying it because nobody likes to talk about their weakness," Jemimah told reporters in the post-match press-conference.
"I was going through a lot of anxiety at the start of the tournament and it was a lot before few games also I used to call my mum and cry, cry the entire time, let it all out, because when you're going through anxiety, you just feel numb. You don't know what to do. You're trying to be yourself. And also in this time, my mum and my dad, they supported me a lot," she added.
Jemimah, who played a match-winning knock of 127* against Australia, revealed that players like Arundhati Reddy, Smriti Mandhana and Radha Yadav also helped her a lot and remarked that she is blessed to have such friends.
"And also, there was Arundhati (Reddy) who I think almost every day I've cried in front - almost every day I've cried in front of her. Later, I was joking, I said, you don't come in front of me, I'll start crying. But she checked on me every single day. And there was Smriti (Mandhana), who helped me. She also knew what I was going through. A few of the net sessions, she was just standing there. Even yesterday she came. She just stood there just because - didn't say much, but she just knows that her presence is important for me," Jemimah stated.
"There's been Radha (Yadav) who's always been there taking care of me. I'm so blessed to have friends I can call family, that I didn't have to go through it alone and it's OK to ask for help. And that's what happened. And my mum also, she's as emotional as I am, but she went through a lot. My family went through a lot. But everyone stood by me and believed in me when I didn't, when I couldn't," she further added.
India had a poor start
Coming to the match, after being handed a mammoth target of 339 runs to chase, India had a poor start and lost Shafalai Verma early in the second over. They also lost star batter Smriti Mandhana for only 24 runs and it looked like defending champions Australia would easily go on to win the match. However, a massive 167-run stand between Jemimah and Harmanpreet Kaur turned the game on its head.
India reached the target in stunning fashion
Both the batters smacked opposing bowlers all around the park and while Jemimah went on to complete her hundred, Harmanpreet fell just 11 runs short and got dismissed for 89. However, Jemimah kept on going and formed crucial partnerships with both Deepti Sharma (24) and Richa Ghosh (26) as India reached incredibly close to the target. Eventually, it was Amanjot Kaur who hit the winning runs as the Women in Blue reached the target with 9 deliveries left to spare. They will now be taking on South Africa in the much-awaited final that will take place on November 2.