It has been a little more than three weeks that India’s national women’s cricket team lifted the World Cup. The brilliant team led by Harmanpreet Kaur notched its first ever world cup title after beating the mighty Australian team in the semi finals and South Africa in the finals, as the entire country roared in joy.
Two of the team’s stellar players, Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma recently appeared in ‘Two Much’, a talk show hosted by Bollywood actors Kajol and Twinkle Khanna.
Hailing from Mumbai, Jemimah played both, cricket and hockey, when she was a kid. In the episode, she recalled jam-packing the two sports into her schedule along with school, until she was forced to choose one. The state level hockey player chose cricket.
Shafali was born in Haryana’s Rohtak. She shared tales of how she disguised herself as a boy, only to make her way to the cricket academy, which refused to train girls.
Talking more about the team’s journey towards the victory night, Jemimah and Shafali were put in front of one question, which was followed by a quick and witty answer.
‘Darr nahi lagta aapko?’
Among several questions, there was one where Kajol asked the cricketer duo if they were scared to face the mighty Australian team in the semi-finals.
The Australian women’s team is a seven time winner of the world cup, making it the most successful women’s cricket team.
“You are going up there, standing with your bat and you are facing these people, who are seven time world champions, toh darr nahi laga aapko? (Weren’t you scared?),” Kajol asked the duo.
“Ek chauka chakka…shoulders apne aap gir jaate hai”
Talking about the height of Australian players, Kajol added, “Aur itni badi bhi hai na, thodi si badi hai,” which translates to “they are tall also, they are a bit tall.”
As the rest broke out in a mild laughter, Shafali nodded.
“I think unko, as a batsman ek chauka chakka maar dete, unke shoulder apne aap gir jaate hai. Phir toh…I think yeh technique best rehti hai(I think as a batsman when we hit a four or a six, their shoulders droop down automatically, I think this is the best technique),” Shafali replied with a smile.
Exactly like a fellow teammate, Jemimah backed Shafali on this too.
“Aur woh bolte hai na, size pe mat jao, jigar pe jao (There is this saying that goes, do not judge by size, judge by courage),” Jemimah said.
The statements seemingly won hearts as it was quickly followed by claps from the hosts and the crew.
Talking about the previous world cups, the duo recalled how India lost to Australia by a close margin, every time.
“Australia never let us cross the line. But on that day, we pushed them out of the line. That day, we were very happy about it,” Shafali said.
