Indian batter Jemimah Rodrigues revealed she was not in a good mental space after she took India to the World Cup final. Rodrigues played one of the best knocks in Women World Cup history as she played a brilliant innings of 127 runs off 134 balls in the run-chase of 339 against Australia. India registered a memorable five-wicket win to make it to the summit clash.

Team India lost early wickets of their opening pair, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, but Rodrigues added 167 runs with captain Harmanpreet Kaur to steady the ship. 

India’s win also broke the record of the highest run-chase in Women ODIs, going past Australia’s 331, which they recently made against India at Vizag.

Jemimah Rodrigues said in the post-match interview, “Firstly, last year I was dropped from this World Cup. This year I came and I thought, okay, I’ll try it. I was in good form. But things back to back just kept happening and I couldn’t control anything. I had such amazing people around me who believed in me.

“I’ve almost cried every day throughout this tour. I was not doing well mentally, going through a lot of anxiety. Then being dropped was rather a challenge for me. But I think all I had to do was show up and God just took care of everything,” the 25-year-old went on to add.

The right-hander gave her gratitude to God for helping her take the team over the line in the high-pressure game.

“I think initially I was just trying to stay focused, I just keep talking to myself. But towards the end I was just quoting one scripture from the Bible. Because I had lost energy, I was very tired. I was doing one scripture that said, ‘just stand still and God will fight for you’. And I just stood there and he fought for me.”

Speaking further on her emotions, she concluded, “I think I had nothing left in me. It was really hard but I was just trying to stay calm. And, at the end just seeing that India won my final game, I think I couldn’t stop myself.”

India will take on South Africa in the final on Sunday.