Why did India drop Jemimah Rodrigues? Smriti Mandhana lifted the curtain from Raj

News India Live, Digital Desk: India’s narrow 4-run defeat against England in the Women’s World Cup is still hurting the fans. Along with this defeat, one decision of the team surprised everyone – that was not including the in-form batsman Jemimah Rodrigues in the playing eleven. After all, why did the team management take such a big decision? Now the answer to this question has been given by the team’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana herself.

In the press conference held after the match, Smriti revealed this secret and said that it was a strategic decision, which was taken keeping in mind the balance of the team.

Steps taken to strengthen bowling

Smriti Mandhana revealed that the team management was feeling for the last few matches that the team was becoming a little weak in bowling. Going with only five main bowlers on a pitch as good for batting as Indore could have been a risky move.

Mandhana said, “To be honest, in the last two matches we felt that five bowling options were not enough. We felt that if we play with only five bowlers, we may suffer losses.”

To overcome this deficiency, it was decided to include an additional bowler in the team. To make room for this one extra bowler, a batsman had to be sacrificed, and unfortunately that name was Jemimah Rodrigues. In his place, fast bowler Renuka Singh was given a chance in the team.

“It was a very difficult decision”

Smriti also admitted that taking this decision was not at all easy for the team. He said, “It was a very difficult decision to drop a quality player like Jamie (Jemima). But sometimes you have to take such tough steps to create the right balance in the team.”

However, he also made it clear that this is not a firm decision and in the future matches, the team will choose the playing eleven according to the conditions. Even though the result was not in India’s favor, it is clear from Mandhana’s words that Team India does not want to take any risk on a big stage like the World Cup and is trying to field a strong and balanced team for every match.