Why is Jemimah Rodrigues not playing today’s 5th T20I between India Women and Australia Women in Mumbai?

During the fifth T20I of Australia Women’s tour of India 2022 in Mumbai, India Women captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and chose to bowl in a dead-rubber.

“We are bowling first because of the weather and in the second innings, dew will be there. Last game, we played really well,” Kaur told Star Sports at the toss.

Much like her Indian counterpart, Australia Women stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath also wanted to bowl first at the Brabourne Stadium tonight.

ALSO READ: Is Tahlia McGrath related to Glenn McGrath?

“We were gonna have a bowl as well. We want to win every game we play. So, nothing changes tonight. One area we are looking to improve is our fielding,” McGrath told Star Sports at the toss.

Why is Jemimah Rodrigues not playing today vs Australia Women?

Having already lost the five-match series, India have made a solitary change to their Playing XI in order to strengthen spin-bowling department. As a result, spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad has replaced batter Jemimah Rodrigues in the XI.

“Today, we are going with an extra spinner and I think that’ll help to stop the runs,” Kaur added. Rodrigues’ exclusion has it in it to make way for batter Harleen Deol in the top-order.

Although she was India’s second-highest run-scorer (fifth-highest overall) during Commonwealth Games 2022 and highest (overall) during Women’s Asia Cup 2022, Rodrigues’ lack of runs has played a vital role in her getting left out on Tuesday. Readers must note that the 22-year old batter has scored only 28 runs across four innings at an average of 7 and a strike rate of 87.50 in this series.

Australia, on the other hand, have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI bringing in opening batter Phoebe Litchfield and spinner Kim Garth in place of captain Alyssa Healy and pacer Megan Schutt. Healy, 32, had been ruled out of this match after suffering a calf strain.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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