New Delhi: Late on October 30, India’s cricketers Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur essayed what ESPN Cricinfo called a “rescue act” to land India a place in the 2025 women’s world cup finals, beating Australia in the semis.Australia had not lost the last 16 ODIs, and had set India a target of 339 with nine balls to spare. At the DY Patil Stadium, an unbeaten 127 from Rodrigues and an 89 from Kaur helped India complete a record chase in women’s ODI.Social media has been celebratory, calling the women and especially Rodrigues, India’s pride.Indeed, Rodrigues gives us much to be proud of. The 25-year-old made her Mumbai Under-19 cricket debut in the 2012-13 season as a 13-year-old and was also a national-level hockey player. In 2017, she became the second Indian woman after Smriti Mandhana to score a double-century in the domestic Under-19 one-day trophy.But last year, Hindutva channels, commentators and a news agency ran a singular vilification campaign against her premised exclusively on her Christian faith.One of the oldest clubs of Mumbai, the Khar Gymkhana, cancelled her membership after some of the members reportedly objected to her father Ivan using the club premises for “religious activities.” They claimed that events were organised to “convert” the “vulnerable,” as The Wire had noted then.Rodrigues’s membership was an honorary one – it was given in recognition of her achievements as an international cricketer. Hindutva commentators pounced on the decision, parroting the claim that Rodrigues’s father Ivan used the premises for conversion. Some called for her to be gang-raped. A news agency posted multiple interviews of Gymkhana leaders saying they took a spontaneous decision to revoke her membership after the objections. Most seemed to say that Ivan had booked the community hall for the functions – indicating that the process happened according to the Gymkhana’s rules.Fact-checker and Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair has posted now that even at the height of this controversy, the Times of India had reported on how the club’s president Vivek Devnani had denied these allegations and said that this was a product of a faction in the club indulging in politics before the upcoming elections there.Now, with Rodrigues the talk of the town, the irony was lost on few who recorded the vilification campaign Rodrigues underwent earlier.Hello @smitaprakash, Why didn’t you get a statement from Khar Gymkhana president Vivek Devnani who denied the allegations and accused rivals of indulging in politics ahead of the club’s upcoming elections. pic.twitter.com/iI9lgaG5NM— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) October 22, 2024Social media RW IT handles have hounded Jemimah and her family in the past for their religious faith. I hope some of them bury their faces in a hole tonight. She is a proud daughter of India who has shone on the biggest stage. Way to go girl! @JemiRodrigues ⭐️⭐️— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) October 30, 2025Not too long ago, Mufaddal Vohra spread FAKE news about Jemimah Rodrigues and threw her in way of unreal hatred and abuse. There were literal calls to gangrape her in full public view all because Mufaddal peddled fake news. Mufaddal deleted his tweet but the damage was done. https://t.co/j4CW4NpfFO pic.twitter.com/BYrXR8pwQC— Saif (@isaifpatel) October 30, 2025Congratulations to Jemimah Rodrigues for staying the course and making us all proud. She said it clearly- sometimes we need to stand still & God will fight for us. Bless you Jemimah. Love and all happiness.— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) October 31, 2025Back then, the Rodrigues’s did not speak to reporters. A year later, in her post-match interview, Rodrigues was overwhelmed but firm. “I want to thank Jesus – I could not do this on my own. I want to thank my mom, dad, coach and every single person who believed in me,” she said. She also thanked spectators who chanted for her and egged her on.On Thursday, Rodrigues thought she would be batting at number five and learnt pretty late that it was actually going to be at number 3.ESPNCricinfo reports that Rodrigues was seen talking to herself all through her hundred in that high-pressure chase. “Initially I was just playing, talking to myself. But towards the end, I was quoting a scripture from the Bible because I had lost energy and I was very tired. I was drained. But the scripture says, ‘Just stand still, and God will fight for you.’ And that’s what I did. He fought for me,” she said.