Courtesy: BCCI

Courtesy: BCCI

On Sunday, January 12, in the second ODI of the three-match series, India defeated Ireland by 116 runs in a high-scoring game, to take an unassailable 2-0 series lead. At the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot, right-handed batter Jemimah Rodrigues scored her maiden international hundred, to help India post their highest ODI total of 370/5 before their bowlers were more than capable to defend the runs successfully in the afternoon.

After winning the first ODI of the series comprehensively at the same venue a couple of days ago, Indian women’s cricket team captain Smriti Mandhana won the toss and decided to bat first. She and her opening partner Pratika Rawal stitched together an opening stand of 156 runs within 19 overs before they both lost their wickets on successive deliveries in the Indian innings after going past their fifties at better than a run-a-ball.

Jemimah Rodrigues joined Harleen Deol at the crease with both the batters yet to face a ball, but they got into their work quickly with relative ease, matching each other stroke-for-stroke. They shared a third wicket stand of 183 runs before Harleen Deol’s untimely dismissal just 11 runs shy of a century, but just a couple of overs later, Jemimah Rodrigues went past her maiden international hundred with the second fifty coming in just 28 balls.

The 24-year-old ended up scoring 102 runs in 91 balls with 12 fours, to propel the Indian women’s cricket team to their highest ODI score. In pursuit of the target, the Ireland women weren’t able to score anywhere close to the required run rate from the very beginning of their innings, putting themselves firmly behind the game despite the 80 runs from Christina Coulter Reilly in 113 balls, holding one end up throughout the second power play stage.

The lower middle order of Ireland did try to play some attacking cricket, but it was way too late as they could only reach 254/7 in their allotted overs after Deepti Sharma and Priya Mishra shared five wickets between them.