Anshuman Sharma/Rajwal Gupta
If you think women's cricket is a sideshow, think again. At 10:39 p.m. on October 30, 2025, a moment arrived that history will not forget. Indian women cricket team chased down a daunting target of 339 and reached the World Cup final after defeating seven-time champion Australia. The player of the match was 25-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues, who scored 127 not out and stood tall as India marched to the finals. The victory was particularly special for Jemimah as it ended the torment from the past couple of years against Australia. It is worthwhile to note that India had not beaten Australia in a bilateral series for 40 years.
Jemimah was born on September 5, 2000 and has been involved in sports since childhood. She has played basketball and football at school and football at the national level before choosing cricket full-time. Her talent and relentless hard work earned her a place in Mumbai’s Under-19 cricket team at the age of 13. Jemimah made her international debut against South Africa in February 2018 and scored a half-century. Jemimah was born into a sports family; her Father, Ivan Rodrigues, is a junior coach and has been her mentor since her childhood. In her International career, she has emerged as one of India’s premier batswomen in all three formats. She scored 1725 runs with an average of 35.20, which includes 3 centuries and 8 half-centuries. 2375 runs in T20Is (average 30.06), 13 half-centuries, and a strike rate of 116.47. In Tests, she has also scored 235 runs in limited opportunities at an average of 58.75.
Amid the celebration, Jemimah sat with tears she couldn’t hold back – a raw, public release after years of torment against Australia. She called the victory a release and made it clear that the tour had nearly broken her. She said that she was “not doing well mentally,” battling anxiety and “almost crying every day,” after a month she described as “really hard.” Even as she produced match-winning moments, the series has been jagged as she got out for a duck twice. She also recalled being dropped last year from the 2024 T20 World Cup despite good form. This underscores that this triumph came at the end of a long, fragile fight. She also quoted that in these hard times, her faith in Jesus helped her sail through these tough times.
This victory also answered all the critics who were disappointed with the team's performance in the World Cup. The match can be regarded as the 1983 moment for the women in Blue, as it has changed the perception of women's cricket. Legendary off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, in his YouTube Channel, said this was the best ODI match, not just the best women's ODI match. This wasn't merely a win — it was a watershed. The chase rewrote expectations, filled stadiums and screens, and answered critics who pit men’s cricket above women’s by measuring impact not by habit but by pressure handled, audiences moved and opportunities created. For many girls, tonight proved that everything is possible and changed the conversation about the sport.
