India’s dashing batter Jemimah Rodrigues, 21, is not sitting back and brooding over not being selected for the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup at New Zealand in March-April. Instead, she’s busy playing her second favourite sport—hockey. Rodrigues used to play hockey for her school, St Joseph’s (Bandra), in the MSSA (Mumbai Schools Sports Association) inter-school league and thereafter represented Mumbai and Maharashtra at the U-17 level before switching over to competitive cricket for good. Rodrigues has played 21 ODIs and 50 T20Is, scoring 394 and 1055 runs respectively.
Sunday, however, was all about hockey for the Bandra girl. Rodrigues was busy dribbling, passing and even scoring alongside the Uncle’s Kitchen United girls hockey team during a two-hour practice session in Malad.
‘Good dribbler’
“Jemimah is a natural at our national game,” says former India hockey goalkeeper and Olympian Adrian D’Souza of UK United Sports, under whose supervision the practice session was conducted.
D’Souza was very impressed with Rodrigues’s hockey skills. “Despite her busy international cricket calendar, it’s great to see that Jemimah has not lost her hockey touch. Some of her dribbles and moves were sharp. She has a smart hockey brain. Her fitness is top-notch too. And the best part is that she’s a good team player and a humble person despite her international achievements,” said D’Souza.
Interestingly, this hockey training session was not just for leisure. Rodrigues will be representing the UK United team at the Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana’s five-a-side rink hockey tournament this week (February 11-16).
Competitive event
“The Willingdon tournament is a prestigious one and very competitive too. We are happy that Jemimah has decided to play for us. The UK United girls are inspired by her presence. She scored some good goals during today’s practice session. I hope she can score in the tournament too and help us win the trophy,” said UK United team owner Ronnie D’Souza.
