Vendors outside Dr DY Patil Stadium will be sure to stock up on Indian cricket team jersey No. 5, bearing Jemimah Rodrigues’s name, to meet the demand, which is bound to soar following her stellar performance at Thursday’s India-Australia ICC 2025 World Cup semi-final. Jemimah, the mulgi from Bhandup who lived up to the Marathi adage ‘moorti lahaan pan keerti mahaan’, was the favourite player of the day.
What a fabulous end to the electric evening! If the colossal energy at the stadium on Thursday evening was harvested, I am sure it could power all of Navi Mumbai for a week. The Aussie girls had put up a formidable total to defend the Indian side, which had its fumbling moments in the tournament. Girls from both sides charged the audience on their toes right up to the winning shot hit by Amanjot Kaur.
A few sloppy fielding attempts and some valuable extras by way of wides and overthrows brought out a lot of “Arrey re! Why did she have to throw?” As opposed to this was the Aussie team, which played with an attacking field and threw themselves at the ball to save runs. As the Indian innings progressed and when the ball-run difference was 20, the pressure started to show on the Aussies, who hadn’t given away extras earlier. They began floundering and started bowling wides, each received with loud cheer.
The crowd cheers on as India chase the milestone on Thursday. Pics/By Rajlakshi Iyengar
Bucket-seat experts (BSE) behind us ran parallel commentary on how they should strategise and play. They also analysed the game at regular intervals, one of them even tracing the family tree of Tahlia McGrath and relating her to Glenn McGrath. Someone was contemplating leaving early if the Indian team did not perform well. But reluctant to leave, he said, “If I go and India won, I could never forgive myself.”
Rain interrupted play once, and the second time India batted even through the drizzle, as BSEs assessed the damage control done to the outfield, how dew could be seen shining. After the game was halted the first time, they had already begun discussing Duckworth Lewis, for what it was worth, it never came to that.
Earlier, I had briefly overheard two people discussing politics, which prevented Jemimah from giving her best. I couldn’t benefit from that conversation as I had to hurry to the entry gate. The game had the crowd riveted so much so that the young boy next to me did not ask for water or any snacks! He kept craning his neck and squinting up at the scoreboard, asking, “Atta kiti havet ajoon?” (How much do we need to win now?)
Then there was the DJ duo, urging the audience to shout with them, cheer for the Aussie girls, too, to honour the ‘Athithi Devo Bhava’ principle. The DJ also exhorted the crowd to switch on their mobile phone torch and sway to keep it occupied during breaks.
As the match progressed, the crowd was enthralled. The big screen was showing Jemimah in tears of relief, and someone shouted, “Ro matt Jemimah, you did great”. I never got to know if she stopped crying after hearing that, but I am sure the entire team must have breathed a sigh of relief, albeit temporarily, the pressure of performing at the final on Sunday must be looming large. People were already trying to book tickets for the final on Sunday, but it seems they came across the ‘SOLD OUT’ banner.
