Jemimah Rodrigues of India plays a shot during the 1st T20I match between India and Sri Lanka at Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, India, on December 21, 2025. (CREIMAS for BCCI)
On a night when Sri Lanka batters combined to hit nine fours, Jemimah Rodrigues, by herself, hit 10 during a sublime, unbeaten knock of 69 that guided India to a comfortable eight-wicket win in the first T20I at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. The victory — the team’s first game since the 50-over World Cup final win in November — was effectively set up by a collective bowling display that restricted Chamari Athapaththu’s side to just 121/6. But the headlines will rightly belong to Jemimah for the class of her innings, with her offside strokeplay being a standout feature.
Sri Lanka pacer Malki Madara thought it was a close call for caught behind when she bowled a 104.6kph delivery at a good length just outside the off stump, but Jemimah executed the perfect late cut – a shot she plays so well – for her first boundary of the innings. It set the tone for what was to follow from the Mumbaikar. In the post-match interview, when she was told maybe Sri Lanka should consider putting three-four fielders in that region, she joked: “I will still find the gap.”
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.
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.