India batter Jemimah Rodrigues has revealed that advice from Sachin Tendulkar helped her stay focused ahead of the Women’s ODI World Cup final. In the semi-final clash against Australia, the Mumbai batter played a career-defining innings, but was quick to refocus, as India played South Africa in the summit clash at the DY Patil Sports Academy.ย
Notably, Rodrigues played a match-winning, unbeaten 127 against Australia as India secured a place in the title clash. The innings quickly became one of the standout performances of the tournament, but the batter admitted the attention surrounding it threatened to become a distraction before the final. Speaking about that period, Rodrigues said Tendulkar contacted her coach Prashant Shetty with a message aimed at keeping her attention on the bigger objective.
โSachin sir called my coach Prashant Shetty. He asked him to tell me that he understood the past couple of days had been a lot for me, the big knock against Australia in the semifinal, the joy of beating them. But he reminded me that the job was not over yet. We still had a final to win. He said, ‘try to put that aside and start from zero’. That message really helped me reset my mind,โ Jemimah told JioHotstar.
โI understood that what you did before does not win you the next game. You must treat every match as a new start. That advice from a legend gave me so much clarity before the final,โ she added.
India eventually completed a historic campaign by defeating South Africa in the final and lifting their maiden Women’s ODI World Cup title.
Shafali credits her father
Another player who drew motivation from a personal message before the summit clash was Shafali Verma. The opener, who produced an all-round performance of 87 runs and 2/36 in the final, credited a voice note from her father for providing extra inspiration.
“We had two off days before the final. My dad sent me a voice note. He said, ‘Just work hard. Give your best on the field and it has to be in writing that Shafali Verma helped India win the World Cup’. That voice note gave me (some) extra fire. I knew I had to perform not just for myself, but for him and for the team. It pushed me to give everything I had on the field,โ she said.
India’s players are now preparing for their next major challenge, with the reigning ODI world champions set to open their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan in Birmingham on Sunday, June 14.
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