Jemimah Rodrigues takes up hockey after being dropped from Indian Women's ICC World Cup squad

In a surprising turn of events, Indian women's cricket team player Jemimah Rodrigues will be seen playing hockey in a tournament, after she failed to make the cut for India's ICC World Cup squad. The Women's World Cup is due to be held in March-April later this year in New Zealand. 

Team India recently announced the squad for the upcoming ICC event, and Jemimah, who missed out on a berth in the squad, has decided to take a break from cricket, and take up the hockey stick instead. 

The explosive Indian player will be seen playing hockey at the Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana Rink Tournament in Mumbai, where Jemimah will turn out for Uncles Kitchen United sports team. 

The 21-year-old is among three senior players, who were omitted from the Indian Women's team that will take part at the World Cup. Jemimah, Shikha and Punam Raut have been dropped from the squad, however, Jemimah has decided to turn the snub into an opportunity instead. 

Here's a little cameo of Jemimah's skills with the hockey stick:

A lil' bit of #hockey on my day off with Theo, the 'Goodest Boy' in town!  #WhoLetTheDogsOut #dayoff pic.twitter.com/YQm7L42Cr1

— Jemimah Rodrigues (@JemiRodrigues) May 18, 2019

Despite having played 21 ODIs and 50 T20Is for Team India, Jemimah retains a keen interest in hockey, a sport she has been playing since her childhood. At the tender age of 9, a young Jemimah was selected in Maharashtra's Under-17 hockey team, that's how good she was with the sticks. 

She frequently represented her school at the MSSA (Mumbai Sports School Association), an inter-school hockey league. Cut to the present, Jemimah is polishing up her hockey skills for the upcoming tournament, which will take place between February 11-16. 

In fact, former Indian goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza was left impressed with Jemimah's skill with the hockey stick. He stated that it's a good thing that the young cricketer has retained her interest in hockey, despite being occupied by national team duties in cricket. 

Earlier, justifying Jemimah's exclusion from Team India's squad for the Women's World Cup, head coach Ramesh Powar said, "If you don't perform, you don't get your chances."