India vs Sri Lanka: Jemimah Rodrigues puts on an offside masterclass as India return to action with a comfortable win in first T20I

That’s the sort of zone she was in. Out of the 10 fours she’d go on to hit, nine were on the offside, all between third-man region and cover. Against the veteran left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera, she was cautious – perhaps the dismissal during the recent World Cup outing in Guwahati still on her mind when she was bowled for a duck by an absolute peach that turned away from her. But she targeted pretty much every other Sri Lankan bowler, especially severe against Shashini Gimhani. The 17-year-old is an ambidextrous spinner but even more interestingly, bowls left-arm wrist-spin, not something common in the women’s game.

Jemimah, though, was ready for it and didn’t let the youngster settle into any rhythm, hitting six fours against her. Four of those came in the 12th over. Second ball, she latched on so quickly to a length ball on backfoot and struck a square cut past point. Fourth ball, when Gimhani went fuller, Jemimah lofted it over mid off. As the youngster lost grip on the delivery next ball, Jemimah brought out some variety to nail a reverse sweep. The over finished with another cut behind square.

“Our video analyst told us to watch her videos, because she’s a mystery spinner, a very good prospect for Sri Lanka, I just stuck to my strengths. Having watched her video, I knew her action beforehand and what she bowls. Then I just reacted to the ball where she was bowling, I was trying to hit it over that fielder,” Jemimah said after the match.

Vital cog

There was plenty of chatter around her batting position during the ODI World Cup, but it was at No.3 where she came good, hitting that iconic century against Australia in the semifinal. In T20Is though, No.3 is where she has batted the most in her career – 69% of the time. And she showed once more why her busy approach, right from running the quick singles and doubles to frequently finding the gaps on the field to keep the scoreboard ticking with boundaries, makes her a vital cog in India’s T20 wheel.

“That was my mindset that, you know, when things are going well, extend the form as much as possible so that it makes up for the times when the runs don’t come, so that was my simple mindset. For me, it is important to understand the conditions. To be honest, it was slightly sticky, not as flat as we thought it would be, but I was just in good touch. So I just wanted to continue that. And my mindset is simple. I feel I bat the best when I’m just blank and react to the ball, and that’s what I was doing. I didn’t think of the score either. Just thought of reacting to the ball and playing according to merit,” Jemimah said.

India’s bowling earlier was a solid display led by the spinners, while Kranti Gaud accounted for the big early breakthrough of Athapaththu. Deepti Sharma, who bowled a maiden over in the powerplay using all her variations, was once again at her crafty best. But the highlight was debutant Vaishnavi Sharma’s spell of 0/16 in four overs. The spinner from Madhya Pradesh, who had a fantastic U19 World Cup earlier this year and has done well in domestic cricket too, was surprisingly overlooked at the WPL Auction recently. But handed the international debut in Vizag, she showed good control and mixed up her pace well to keep Sri Lanka in check. She’d have had a wicket too had Sree Charani held on to a simple catch. As Harmanpreet later said, catching is the one department where India looked rusty on their return to action and would need to improve ahead of the second meeting in two days.