“I used to call my mum and cry the entire time” - Jemimah Rodrigues reveals her battle with anxiety

Indian star batter Jemimah Rodrigues has revealed the difficulties she has faced in recent times and also disclosed how her teammates Arundhati Reddy, Smriti Mandhana, and Radha Yadav helped her to come out of it during the ongoing campaign. 

It’s important to note that Jemimah scored an unbeaten 127-run knock off 134 balls with 14 fours to help India Women to an impressive five-wicket win over Australia Women in the second semi-final in Navi Mumbai on Thursday, October 30.

For the unversed, Jemimah was axed from the playing XI against England Women in the group stage affair. Nevertheless, she made a strong comeback against New Zealand Women, scoring an unbeaten 76-run knock to seal the semi-final berth.

With this win against Australia in the semi-final, India Women propelled to the grand finale. They will now lock horns with South Africa Women, led by Laura Wolvaardt, in the final on Sunday, November 2, in Navi Mumbai.

"I'll be very vulnerable here because I know if someone is watching this - might be going through the same thing and that's my whole purpose of saying it because nobody likes to talk about their weakness," Rodrigues said after the game.

"I was going through a lot of anxiety at the start of the tournament and it was a lot before few games also I used to call my mum and cry, cry the entire time, let it all out, because when you're going through anxiety, you just feel numb,” she added.

"You don't know what to do. You're trying to be yourself. And also in this time, my mum and my dad, they supported me a lot. And also, there was Arundhati (Reddy) who I think almost every day I've cried in front - almost every day I've cried in front of her. Later, I was joking, I said, you don't come in front of me, I'll start crying,” she noted.

"But she checked on me every single day. And there was Smriti (Mandhana) who helped me. She also knew what I was going through. A few of the net sessions, she was just standing there. Even yesterday she came. She just stood there just because - didn't say much, but she just knows that her presence is important for me,” she continued. 

"There's been Radha (Yadav) who's always been there taking care of me. I'm so blessed to have friends I can call family, that I didn't have to go through it alone and it's OK to ask for help,” she stated.

"And that's what happened. And my mum also, she's as emotional as I am, but she went through a lot. My family went through a lot. But everyone stood by me and believed in me when I didn’t, when I couldn't,” she asserted.

"It started with the anxiety thing. Then I was dropped from the team and that really hit me. When you’re dropped, you have a lot of doubts because I always want to contribute to the team. But that day I couldn't do much sitting out. And then when you come back in, it's a lot more pressure with everything that was happening in the past month,” she observed.

"But sometimes all you need to do is just hang in there and things fall into place. So I'm very grateful for the people who believed in me when I couldn't and were there for me and understood me because I couldn't do this on my own,” she concluded.

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