Team India Star Reveals How Former Captain Virat Kohli Inspired Them Ahead of ICC Women’s World Cup 2025

The 13th edition of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025, which will take place in India, is just around the corner. Prior to the mega ICC event, star Indian batter Jemimah Rodrigues shared how a conversation with the former captain Virat Kohli had encouraged her and the Team India vice captain, Smriti Mandhana.

Virat Kohli Banked on Smriti Mandhana And Jemimah Rodrigues to Change Women’s Cricket in India

The 25-year-old recalled when they met Kohli in New Zealand and asked him for some invaluable batting advices. Interestingly, their conversation continued for four long hours. Moreover, she also revealed that they spoke about cricket for only the first half an hour.

Since then, the conversation was about their lives and some “random stuff,” as Rodrigues felt that she had met one of her long-lost friends. However, the batter also noted how the modern-day great had shown his faith and belief in them to continue the rise of women’s cricket in the country.

“First half an hour, we spoke about cricket. He actually told Smriti and me that – ‘You both have the power to change women’s cricket and I can see that happening, to just take up that responsibility and what change you all can do is going to be big and massive.’ That’s what he told us and a lot of batting and stuff,” she stated.

The youngster also opened up on some of the qualities of Kohli, which ranks him amongst the cricketing stalwarts. Besides the 36-year-old’s aggressive approach on the field, she also observed the player’s tactical strokeplay that reduces the chances of his dismissal.

“I admire him because I also find a sort of similarity. One is I love his intent, the energy, the dominating mindset he brings. And he is someone who runs well between the wickets. Even when he hits sixes, he hits it in the gaps. So even if it’s misstimed, it’s a four or it’s two runs. But he’ll not get out,” added Jemimah while speaking in a Mashable India YouTube video.

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Hosts India Are Set to Kickstart ICC Women’s World Cup 2025

India and Sri Lanka are all set to kickstart the 50-over tournament on September 30. All the eight teams of this league will play in a round-robin format, facing every opposition once in the group stage. The top four teams will find themselves in the semi-final, as the first-placed side will take on the fourth team, while the second and third-positioned nations to clash in the other knock-out game.

The winners of these two fixtures will earn a spot in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 Final, which will be played on November 2. The prize money of this tournament, which is a whopping 13.88 million US dollars, has seen a record increase and also surpassed the allocated 10 million from the previous Men’s ODI World Cup in 2023.

However, the ACA Stadium in Guwahati, the Holkar Stadium in Indore, the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam and the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai will conduct the matches in India. Notably, all of the Pakistan Women’s fixtures are to take place at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka, due to the recent border conflicts between the two neighbouring nations.

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