I like the way that I shifted gears today – Jemimah Rodrigues on her sensational century

It was another rippling display from Jemimah Rodrigues as she blasted a 91-ball-century to cap off what was an impeccable batting performance from the Indian women. Awarded the Player of the Match for propelling India to another staggering series win, Rodrigues was delighted in the way she batted against Ireland in the second ODI.

Talking at the post-match presser, Rodrigues said, “Feels great, it was a long-awaited one, and glad I could do it for the team today. I just tried to keep small targets and just kept achieving it. And I like the way that I shifted gears today. Initially I showed a lot of patience, which was again a big positive for me because it was important for me to spend time there to get those runs. And you know, I was getting the runs. But I was not spending enough time to make it bigger. So I was happy I could do that today."

Quoting her source of inspiration, Jemimah added, “I got angry with myself [the way I got out in the first ODI]. I needed to be positive towards myself because that works for me. If I keep being too harsh on myself, I go very low. But it was important for me to keep being positive rather than thinking, 'okay, I got out but next match what could I do better'. I tried to get back to Under-19 where I've scored a lot of 100s, I've scored a 200 too. I tried to get back to what I used to do then and today I try to apply it, and it came off well."

She also underlined the pressure that was on her to step in the boots of Harmanpreet Kaur at number four, stating, “If your openers give you that kind of a start, you know it's always much more easier for us to handle the middle overs and take it well. [There were] two back-to-back wickets, so Harleen and I had to just give ourselves some time because I think Ireland bowlers are also on top at that time. So I think one thing about 50-over matches, you know we can take a little bit of time and that's what we did. We calculated well. We settled the 40s, just play risk-free cricket and we know we can always make up for it."

She concluded by stating, “It feels good. But there are lot of places we can still improve as a team because we always look to keep improving. We've spoken that when we do well try and be a little more critical about how we can get better than that. So yeah, next game hopefully 400."