The other battle: How Jemimah Rodrigues became a mirror for 21st-century India

On Sunday, as the Mumbai night sky lit up with post-Diwali fireworks, it was the women’s turn to mark a sweet homecoming for the ICC World Cup trophy.

14 years ago, when Virat Kohli and a new generation of Indian cricketers carried Sachin Tendulkar around the Wankhede stadium after winning the men’s World Cup, it reaffirmed the belief that India could, in fact, cross the finish line.

On 2nd November 2025, a similar story unfolded. Jemimah, Smriti, and Harmanpreet couldn’t wait to hand over the World Cup trophy to their predecessors Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj, as the crowd inside Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium stood up and applauded the legends who had laid the foundation for this very moment.

The penny had dropped. In the past few days, social media had been abuzz with chatter around the World Cup. In fact, social media platform X, through its India handle, shared that conversations around the event had increased by more than 450% in the 24 hours leading up to the final.

And it was truly heartwarming. From an obscure village in Haryana to a sleepy suburb in northern Bengal, people were glued to their television sets to watch the Shafalis and the Richas realise their true potential.

For years, this is what followers of women’s cricket in India have dreamt of — acknowledgement and appreciation for the women’s game, their struggles, their stories, and now, their triumphs.

But this is India, a land of dichotomies as much as it is of warmth. A billion people can lift you to highs that you never knew you could feel. At the same time, there would always be some who would pull you down, almost to their level of twisted, narrow-mindedness.

Like the men’s team, we wanted more recognition, more visibility for the women. Unfortunately, in our country, bigotry, mindless trolling, and below-the-belt jabs often come hand-in-hand.

The boys, to their credit, have gotten used to it at this point, even though they shouldn’t have had to. The girls will have to do the same — develop a thick skin, look away, and just keep those victories coming.

When patriotism gets selective

Over the course of the past week, Jemimah Rodrigues has been subject to similar vilification, around a controversy that has as much right to exist as the flat-earth theory.

It’s truly baffling that even in 2025, a 25-year-old just professing her faith in a superior power that she believes in is mocked and ridiculed. This, after she had hit a career-best ODI score in a World Cup semifinal against the reigning champions to put India on the threshold of history.

Keep religion out of it, they said.

The major talking point? An incident at a prestigious Mumbai club involving her family and their religious beliefs, and a barrage of misinformation and threats that followed.

We have seen this before, though. Back in September 2022, Indian pacer Arshdeep Singh had to go through similar ignominy after he dropped a catch in India's loss to Pakistan in the men’s Asia Cup. All of a sudden, he wasn’t Indian enough!

This hypocrisy from a small section of the populace highlights how athletes are still judged on faith rather than performance. The sense of entitlement that this is characterised by often takes the shape of half-baked, over-seasoned pontification. If it weren’t so stupid, it would almost be funny.

Then again, Jemimah is an Indian cricketer. She will wear the same badge again, play in the same cities where some of these people will shout expletives from the crowd.

But they didn’t choose cricket at four years of age over five other sports that they excelled in. Neither did they lead their school sports team despite being the quietest kid in class. Rest assured, they never conquered crippling anxiety to come out and face the world’s best on the biggest stage of them all.

Hence, they shouldn’t matter! They’re just noise in the background. White noise, at that — the most boring kind. While Jemimah is golden, inside and out, perfectly matched by the trophy that glitters in her arms.

Disclaimer: This article is an opinion piece. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the publication.