Ahead of the MI Juniors cricket tournament, former Mumbai Indians assistant coach Paras Mhambre, now guiding the MI Juniors set-up, shared profound insights on Jemimah Rodrigues’ resilience and the explosive growth of women’s cricket.
Drawing from India’s triumphant 2025, capped by the senior team’s maiden ICC Women’s ODI World Cup title, he emphasised how Rodrigues’ story of overcoming anxiety fuels young aspirations, blending senior successes with grassroots inspiration. India’s golden year peaked on November 2, 2025, at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai, where Harmanpreet Kaur’s side crushed South Africa by 52 runs in the 13th ICC Women’s ODI World Cup final.
Jemimah Rodrigues shone brightest in the semi-final against Australia on October 30, smashing an unbeaten 127* (134 balls, 14 boundaries) to chase 339, earning Player of the Match. Partnering skipper Kaur’s 89 (88 balls, 10 fours, 2 sixes), she guided a 5-wicket win despite physical exhaustion and mental battles with anxiety, which she openly addressed post-match.
Tournament stats underscored her impact: 292 runs in 7 innings at 101.03 strike rate and 58.40 average, including a century and a half-century across 8 matches. Career ODIs: 1,749 runs in 56 innings at 89.83 strike rate and 34.98 average (8 fifties, 3 tons).
Mhambre, speaking ahead of MI Juniors action, lit up on 2025’s dual World Cup wins, men’s and women’s, as perfect fodder for youth. “I think you see stories, right? It’s nice that Jemimah Rodrigues comes and says she had a problem. You know, this is my problem; I dealt with it this way,” he said. “For a youngster coming through, I need to find my story, my path. And I have someone like Jemimah Rodrigues telling me that yes, I may be going through a similar problem. If you keep fighting till the end, there’s a great knock that she played out here.”
This narrative resonates amid women’s cricket’s surge, turbocharged by the Women’s Premier League (WPL). Royal Challengers Bengaluru, led by Smriti Mandhana, claimed their second title in the 2026 edition, while the Mumbai Indians hold two (2023, 2025). Delhi Capitals, now skippered by Rodrigues, finished runners-up for the fourth straight time; she tallied 264 runs in 10 innings at 141.93 strike rate and 33 average (2 fifties).
Younger stars echoed triumphs: India, under Niki Prasad, won their second ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup on February 2, 2025, beating South Africa by 9 wickets in Kuala Lumpur, following Shafali Verma’s 2023 inaugural success. Even India’s blind women’s team, led by Deepika TC, clinched the inaugural Blind Women’s T20 World Cup in November 2025.
Paras Mhambre tied it back to inspiration, “You’ll just see the progress in the last 5 years. Eventually, yes, winning the World Cup. But there are stories behind it. At the end of the day, there’s someone who’s done the same thing. Played a fabulous winning knock for the country and then gave you the World Cup. So, it’s like a great story, and it’s a great lesson for someone like all these kids coming through.”
His words capture the ripple effect: WPL’s rise since 2023 has swelled participation, with senior heroes like Rodrigues, now a captain for the Delhi Capitals, inspiring the next wave at platforms like MI Juniors.
(Quotes sourced from Mumbai Indians)
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