Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 11 : With just 50 days remaining until India hosts the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025, middle-order batting lynchpin Jemimah Rodrigues said that the advent of the Women's Premier League has also contributed to bolstering the confidence of newcomers in the team.
Rodrigues cited the instance of 22-year-old pacer Kranti Gaud, who finished as the leading wicket-taker in India's 2-1 ODI series win in England with nine scalps that included a six-wicket haul.
"What the WPL has done has given youngsters a platform to perform and get into the Indian team. There's not as much pressure as on international debut In this team, we see that. We look at Kranti (Gaud), she's fearless. That attitude is so nice to see that it pushes each one of us," Jemimah said at the '50 Days To Go' event in Mumbai.
Jemimah Rodrigues, who was a budding cricketer at the time, recalled going to the airport to receive and support the team, and recalled the fervour that surrounded the return.
"I remember all these people, they were tired and at the same time disappointed, because they were so close, and yet it felt so far. They walked out of the airport thinking nobody was going to be there. And I can tell you that at 5:30 in the morning, the whole airport was packed with a crowd. People right now would think that that's normal. But at that time, for women's sport, it wasn't. I remember this whole bunch of players coming in and going back, because they weren't expecting it," she added.
India will kickstart their Cricket World Cup 2025 campaign against Sri Lanka at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on 30 September.