Jemimah Rodrigues prepares to tee off © BCCI
Jemimah Rodrigues has been signed up by Yorkshire Diamonds for the fourth edition of the Kia Super League, taking the number of Indians in the T20 league up to three.
Smriti Mandhana, who set the tournament alight last season with a chart-topping 421 runs in her debut season, will play for Western Storm again while Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian T20I captain, who debuted along with Mandhana last year, is expected to get an extension with Lancashire Thunder.
Rodrigues, the up-and-coming 18-year-old batsman, is a fearless stroke-player and has been consistent both at home and away in her short career so far. Having made her international debut only in February 2018, in South Africa, she averages 30.40 and has a strike rate of 123.57 in her 25-T20I career. In her most recent outing on foreign soil, Rodrigues impressed against the moving ball in testing New Zealand conditions in an ODI series, notching up a career-best 81 not out in Napier to help set up India’s 2-1 series win.
Her ability against some of the world’s most established bowlers was on show more recently at the Women’s T20 Challenge in Jaipur, where she was named the Player of the Tournament after scoring 123 runs in three games at an average of 61.50.
The upcoming edition of the six-team KSL begins on August 6. Defending champions Surrey Stars will take on Yorkshire Diamonds, while Storm, finalists last season, and Thunder will host Loughborough Lightning and Southern Vipers respectively.
Bangladesh, meanwhile, will be represented by allrounder Jahanara Alam and top-order batsman Fargana Hoque in the Women’s Global Development Squad (WGDS), an ICC-ECB initiative now in its second year. Alam, who stood out with her incisive swing bowling and fielding at the Women’s T20 Challenge, was also part of the inaugural WGDS that lost to Loughborough Lighting in last year’s double-header.
Additional reporting by Mohammad Isam
Annesha Ghosh is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo