IND vs ENG, Women’s World Cup 2025: here’s why Jemimah Rodrigues is not playing today’s match

In a crucial clash for the last place in the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025struggling Indian team faces undefeated England challenge at Holkar Stadium in Indore. India, after a good start with victories over Sri Lanka And Pakistanlost momentum with back-to-back losses against South Africa And Australiaputting immense pressure on the hosts. With England needing a win to secure their place in the Top 4, the importance of this match for India’s campaign cannot be overstated. After winning the toss, England opted to bowl first, setting the stage for a high-stakes encounter where India must deliver. The pressure forced the Indian team management to make a significant and eye-opening change to the Playing XI.

Reason for Jemimah Rodrigues’ absence from India-England Women’s World Cup 2025

The biggest news from the draw is the bold squad change India made: dropping experienced middle-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues and replacing her with a specialist swing player. Renuka Singh Thakur. The move was explicitly tactical and aimed at strengthening a bowling attack that had been exposed in the previous two defeats. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur confirmed this decision by stating: “Jemi is not playing today and Renuka is playing… She (Renuka) has a great record against England and that was the main reason why we wanted her back in the team.” This highlights the team’s intention to take advantage of Renuka’s ability to bowl the new ball and exploit England’s known vulnerability to pace and movement, a high-risk, high-reward strategy to secure the crucial wicket of a semi-final berth.

ALSO READ: Ellyse Perry reveals the things she can’t live without on tour

Rodrigues in poor form for 2025 World Cup

Jemimah’s omission from the playing tournament, a total completely devoid of a single half-century.

His disappointing run is particularly defined by his difficulties negotiating the new ball and spinners, earning him two ducks, including a golden duck in the first match of the tournament against Sri Lanka and another zero against South Africa. While she showed a brief glimmer of form with a quickfire 33-run cameo against Australia in the previous match, her average of just 16.25 and an overall lack of impactful contributions left a significant void in the Indian middle order, especially when the team needed a reliable batter to convert starts after the success of the first few matches.

ALSO READ: Here’s how India can qualify for the semi-final after their loss to Australia in the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup

This article was first published on WomenCricket.com, a Cricket Times company.