“I just went to my room, and I started crying” - Jemimah Rodrigues opens up on her anxiety issues ahead of Pakistan game in World Cup

Team India middle-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues, who played a crucial role in propelling India to a title win in the recently concluded ICC ODI World Cup 2025, has opened up on how she dealt with anxiety during the initial few games of the mega event.

Speaking exclusively with Cricbuzz, the star batter also revealed how a talk with her mother put her at ease just before the match against the arch-rivals Pakistan. Notably, India stunned Pakistan by 88 runs in the group stage game of the recently concluded mega event.

While Jemimah started the World Cup campaign with a duck against Sri Lanka Women in Guwahati, she could score 32 runs against Pakistan Women in Colombo. Later, she bagged another duck against South Africa Women.

“The morning of the Pakistan game, I was fine till then. I went out, I tried to do all the things that made me happy because we had I think four days off in Sri Lanka. But then the morning of the match, I was feeling too much. I had a physio session, and then I just went to my room and I started crying. I called my mom, and I was like, ‘I’m not feeling okay and I don’t know what to do. I’m just struggling’. And then I told her what happened in the first game and how it was bothering me. How, while fielding – fielding is something I love the most but I started getting anxiety even in my fielding thinking, ‘Okay, now that I’ve not scored, I need to do something special on the field’. I started putting so much pressure on myself in the field and I was not able to enjoy my fielding. And that is something that has always been a stress buster for me. I’ve always been like if not in the batting, I will try and contribute in fielding,” Jemimah told Cricbuzz.

In the next game against Australia, she could score 33 runs before being axed for the game against England Women. However, she made a strong comeback against New Zealand Women as she managed to score an unbeaten 76-run knock in Navi Mumbai. Later in the semi-final, she had put up the best knock of her life, scoring 127* against Australia Women.

“My mom told me one thing at that time, which I don’t know if many people will be okay with her saying it but it meant the world to me. She went like, ‘For me, even if right now you just want to leave the World Cup and come back home, I’m okay. And I will fight with everyone for it. But you being happy is what matters to me the most.’ I was crying. I told my mom that, ‘You know what, you just saying this means the world to me. I know I’ll be okay now because I know that you’re just valuing me for me and not for what I can do. You’re understanding me.’ At that moment, I just wanted someone to understand me. But if somebody has not been through it, it is hard for them to understand,” she added.

After making it to the final for the third time in the ICC ODI World Cup history, India eventually managed to grab the silverware after defeating South Africa Women by 52 runs in Navi Mumbai.

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