Jemimah Rodrigues takes to hockey after being dropped from India women squad for World Cup

In a surprising development, India women’s team cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues will now be seen in a new avatar as she pads up for a hockey tournament. Having failed to make it to India's ICC World Cup squad, Rodrigues will now be seen playing hockey in an upcoming tournament. Earlier in January, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had announced a 16-member squad for the ICC Women's World Cup 2022, which didn’t feature Jemimah.

After failing to secure a spot for herself in the World Cup side, Jemimah has decided to shake things up and take on a new sport. The explosive Indian player has decided to take a break from cricket, and take up the hockey stick. She will be seen at the Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana Rink Tournament in Mumbai, representing the Uncle's Kitchen United team.

Even though the 21-year-old’s decision comes as a surprise for many, it is to be noted that Jemimah is a trained hockey player too. The youngster often shares bits and glimpses of her skill with the hockey stick on social media. She is among the three senior players who will not travel to New Zealand. Shikha Pandey and Punam Raut are the others who have been dropped from the squad.

Jemimah Rodrigues' hockey career

Jemimah has played a total of 21 ODIs and 50 T20Is for Team India. However, Jemimah’s interest in hockey goes way back to her childhood. Jemimah was selected in Maharashtra's Under-17 hockey team when she was just 9 years old. She was a frequent on the hockey pitch, representing her school at the MSSA (Mumbai Sports School Association), an inter-school hockey league. However, she later chose cricket as her first sport and has gone on to represent the national side.

Indian squad for ICC Women's World Cup

India women's squad for ICC World Cup: Mithali Raj (captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh Thakur, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav. Standby players: Sabbhineni Meghana, Ekta Bisht, Simran Dil Bahadur.

The women's squad are set to play 5 ODI games vs New Zealand from February 11 to February 24, and earlier lost the one-off T20 game vs the Black Caps. Following the New Zealand series, the national side will start preparations for the World Cup. The coveted tournament will be held in March-April. 

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