Jemimah Rodrigues

Rodrigues, famous for her giant-killing come-from-behind hundred against Australia in the ODI World Cup semi-final of 2025, which took India through to the final and their first world title, emerged from a multi-sport background. She played football and basketball, and hockey at the national level - as a right-hand batter and occasional offbreak bowler after she chose to focus on cricket full-time.

At 17 she scored an unbeaten 202 for Mumbai in the Under-19 one-day trophy against Saurashtra, just a few days after her 178 handed Gujarat a pummelling. She compiled more than 1000 runs at an average above 112.56 that season in Under-19 cricket, and took 19 useful wickets with her offspin.

She made her senior debut in early 2018, and had fifties in both white-ball formats before long, including in her first T20 World Cup later that year. Though experienced as an opener, Rodrigues found more ODI success in the middle order. When Amol Muzumdar was appointed India head coach in 2023, he moved her to No. 5 and she soon became the team's preferred finisher.

In 2021, after single-digit scores in two ODIs in England, Rodrigues was dropped from the T20I side, but she sparkled at the inaugural Hundred that year, where she was the second-highest scorer overall and made her runs at a strike rate of 150.90 - levelling up her power-hitting skills in the process.

Rodrigues started her Test career with a half-century, and scored three fifties in five Test innings in India's run of wins against England, Australia and South Africa at home.

Though she was left out of the 2022 ODI World Cup squad, her all-format ability, and her athleticism in the field, found her a place in the side more often than not.

She made it to the team for the next ODI World Cup, was dropped midway through, and returned spectacularly later in the tournament, against Australia in the semi-final, where her unbeaten 127 off 134 balls took down the massive 339 target, steering India to the highest successful chase in women's ODI history.

In franchise cricket, Rodrigues remains in demand, having played in the BBL, the Kia Super League, the WCPL and the Hundred. In the inaugural WPL, she was bought by Delhi Capitals for Rs 2.2 crore and remained a mainstay in the side for three seasons.