That Jemimah Rodrigues - the current toast of the nation - is a spark plug is well established by now. She sings, dances, plays the guitar, does commentary, posts reels, motivates people... bubbly, articulate, vibrant, effervescent, charismatic. And yes, she also plays cricket - and she is damn good at it too. One wonders what she isn't, apart from being a spontaneous storyteller.

But behind all the effervescence and bubbly smiles, lurks a side that was little known to the world and it surfaced the other night. "I have cried almost every day in this World Cup with anxiety but God took everything for me. I kept talking to myself and quoting scriptures from the Bible," she said after scripting that World Cup-defining innings against Australia in the semifinal.

That side of a sportsperson's personality was well-captured by Nasser Hussain, who has known her since 2018. "I was elated for Jemimah Rodrigues. Anytime you meet her, she is just a wonderful human being. Nice things happen to nice people. But you don't realise what she is going through. When she does that press conference... the things that she has been going through, the anxiety she is going through, it is a classic example for everyone.

"Behind the smile that Jemimah has always got on her face, behind the guitar and behind dancing, is a human being. Feels pressure, feels anxiety, feels of letting down mom, dad and coach, the Indian public... Behind those smiles people are going through difficult times and under those difficult times to pull off an innings like those speaks volumes of the human being (that she is)," said Nasser Hussain on SkySports podcast. It is well known that Nasser had given a few throwdowns to her in 2018.

Self-confessed anxiety aside, Jemimah is a typical and quintessential Bandra girl - fun-loving, independent, charismatic, energetic, outgoing, grounded and a bundle of high voltage versatility. There is a report in Mumbai media on how hockey's loss became cricket's gain. She had tried her hand in stick sport and even rink hockey. A couple of years ago, she was the chief guest at a hockey function at the Bandra Gymkhana.

"We were privileged to have Jemimah as the chief Guest at our very own Bandra Gymkhana Hockey Tournament in April 2023. An inspiration to so many young athletes, Jemimah continues to make us proud - especially with her magnificent knock that powered Team India into the semi-finals of the Cricket World Cup," Cheryl Misquitta, herself a Bandra lady and the president of the Bandra Gymkhana, says.

How it all began...

The Jemimah Rodrigues story began when she was barely nine years old. Her father, Ivan Rodrigues, took her to the famous MIG Club in Bandra, an academy that had shaped many past and future Mumbai and India cricketers. Those were still not the days when boys and girls trained together, but Ivan - the most influential figure in Jemimah's cricketing journey - insisted that his daughter should also play there. Since she accompanied her brother Eli, coach Prashant Shetty said, "Fine, she can play." And the rest, as they say, took care of itself as Jemimah had the rare privilege of facing players like Arjun Tendulkar, Vijay Gohil, Dhrumil Matkar, and Akash Parkar (all played for Mumbai at different age-groups), among others, in the nets.

"Her passion and hunger were always visible. She wants to win desperately and never gives up halfway. Her drive to keep improving sets her apart. If you look at the wagon wheel of the semifinal knock, you can see her scoring in all areas of the ground. She's constantly evolving - always trying to invent new strokes. These are two of her standout qualities.

"At the end of the day, you have to keep evolving, and she's doing exactly that. If you look at her career graph over the last three years, there's been tremendous growth in her game," says Shetty whom she mentioned in her thanksgiving speech after the semifinal. Their association goes back 16 years and Shetty was at the DY Patil Stadium the other night.

The best part of her preparation, Shetty says, is her unwavering commitment to fitness. "She never misses a fitness session. She may skip a skill session, but not a fitness one. You need fitness to play such an innings. Remember, she fielded for 50 overs and then batted for another 46-47. It's not easy to stay on the field for 96-97 overs in a high-pressure game."

The alacrity with which she saves runs is breathtaking, and the speed at which she steals one is equally mesmerizing. She ran 57 singles and seven doubles in her own innings of unbeaten 127, ran 59 singles and five doubles in others' knocks and was involved in a 328-run marathon combined effort in the middle. Some fitness that was. Her stunning effort to stop the ball and effect Tahlia McGrath's run-out was as much a display of her athleticism and reflexes.

The turning point, according to Shetty, came when Jemimah was dropped from the 2022 Women's World Cup squad. "It was a seminal moment in our journey. We've seen ups and downs, and that setback pushed us to start again. We told ourselves we would do our best. We had some serious conversations and realized there was room to improve - and we did. It's been a dream for her, for her parents, and for me. Her ultimate goal was always to perform well in a World Cup. She has grown up watching the Indian men's team lift the trophy in 2011."

Jemimah is living her dream at the World Cup. To play such an innings against the mighty, multiple-time defending world champions can only be a dream come true moment. "Part of folklore now," says WV Raman, a former India women's team coach, providing a context to the enormity and magnitude of her unbeaten knock.

"It's not just women's cricket. If you talk about cricket, this innings will be remembered and spoken about. Because of the stage of the competition. Because of the fact that India were chasing a huge target. And because they were chasing against a side which is virtually unbeatable. And there was a lot of pressure as well on the Indian team.

"And given all the odds that were stacked against the Indian team and the Indian players, she just produced a gem, a mind-boggling effort. Yeah, this is one for the decade or one for the century kind of innings. And as far as I am concerned, this will go in the top 10 innings in ODI cricket as far as India is concerned, men and women put together. This has to figure somewhere."

Raman coached the Indian team between 2019 and 21 and he knows the infectious character that Jemimah is. "She is so energetic. She is so bubbly. She likes to sort of pep everybody up. That's a huge bonus for the side to have characters like that. And she always likes to feel at the hot spots. And it's good to have somebody who wants to be all the time looking to contribute to the team's cause."

Jemimah had played under him but with uncertain roles. "She had already been a part of the side for a couple of seasons and stuff like that. But for some reason, for various reasons, she was not able to secure a spot for herself. In terms of spot, I mean the batting slot. A regular batting slot because she had to be going up and down. But the point was that she was talented enough, she was good enough to bat, to be played and to be kept as a part of the team," Raman notes.

Raman parted with the Indian women's team in 2021 and next year Jemimah was dropped for the World Cup. But as Shetty says, it was a setback that spurred her to greater things. And now, the biggest day for her - and for Indian cricket - beckons.