Mumbai’s 16-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues entered the record books by scoring a double century in a 50-over game as she became the second women cricketer after Indian opener Smriti Mandhana.
Jemimah amassed 202 in 163 balls for Mumbai against Saurashtra in the West Zone women’s cricket under-19 One-Day league-cum-knockout tournament at Aurangabad District Cricket Association Ground in Aurangabad on Sunday.
Mandhana was only pleased for the efforts of Jemimah. While talking to DNA on Sunday evening, Smriti said: “I am very happy to know Jemimah scored a double hundred. It is a very good achievement for her. We already know Jemimah is a very good batter. I am quite looking forward to the progress she makes in her career.”
When asked how difficult it is for a woman cricketer to score a double hundred in One-dayers, the 21-year-old Smriti replied: “As much as it is difficult for men to score a double century. When I scored it, I didn’t realize how big it was. But when people started talking about it, you know how it was a big thing. I scored the double century realize last year of U-19 and Jemimah has scored when she is only 16. It is a very big achievement by her.”
In the year when the Indian women’s team entered the final of the ICC Women’s World Cup for only the second time, Jemimah is following the right steps in her career. She scored 200 with the help of 21 fours and no six in her knock that saw Mumbai defeat Saurashtra by a huge margin of 285 runs.
Mumbai scored 347/2 in 50 overs and then skittled out Saurashtra for 62 in 39.4 overs.
Jemimah is not new to Mumbai Under-19 girls team. When she was only 13, she was named to the U-19 team and has been scoring runs on a consistent basis. She already has two centuries in this tournament in less than a week, having made 142-ball 178 against Gujarat at the same venue on November 1 when her team won by 262 runs.
On Sunday, Jemimah shared 300 runs with SK Raut for the second wicket, with the No. 3 batter making 98 in 114 balls with two fours.
For the record, England’s Belinda Clark is the only double centurion in women’s ODI – 229* in 1997 against Australia.
