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Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pacer Varun Aaron has lauded India for registering a 'heartwarming' win in the Women's World Cup 2025 semi-final against Australia. He termed Indian head coach Amol Muzumdar and the team management's decision to drop Jemimah Rodrigues in the league phase game against England a great move.India beat Australia by five wickets in the second semi-final of the Women's World Cup 2025 in Navi Mumbai on Thursday, October 30. Jemimah scored an unbeaten 127 off 134 deliveries as the Women in Blue achieved a record 339-run target with nine deliveries to spare.During an interaction on the Star Sports show 'Follow the Blues,' Aaron was asked about his thoughts on India's win in the Women's World Cup 2025 semi-final."So heartwarming, because the way India went about it, it's almost such a comeback story because India were not doing well in the World Cup. Jemi, their star of the semi-final, was dropped," the former India seamer responded."Great move by Amol Muzumdar because sometimes, as a coach, you need to identify who are these players who just need that little needle, who just need that little poke to ignite that fire, and that's what he did with Jemi," he added.Jemimah Rodrigues was left out for the Women's World Cup 2025 league game against England to add a sixth bowling option in the XI. She returned to the XI in the next game against New Zealand, scoring an unbeaten 76 off 55 deliveries at No. 3 in India's 53-run win via the DLS method."After that drop, she is really focused" - Varun Aaron on Jemimah Rodrigues' comeback in the Women's World Cup 2025Jemimah Rodrigues acknowledged that she has been very anxious throughout the Women's World Cup 2025. [P/C: Getty]In the same interaction, Varun Aaron noted that Jemimah Rodrigues has looked zoned in since her return to the XI, highlighting that the Mumbaikar might have been desperate to perform at the start of the tournament."After that drop, she is really focused, zoned in. I think all that anxiety would have made place for pure aggression, because sometimes when you are playing a World Cup, when you were dropped from the previous World Cup, you just want to prove a point so badly," he said.The cricketer-turned-commentator added that a more focused Jemimah stitched together a much-needed match-winning partnership with Harmanpreet Kaur in the semi-final."However, after getting dropped, I think it would have put a lot of things in perspective for her and she has just become this horse with blinkers, and completely set out to do what this Indian team needed. She did it against the best team, with Harmanpreet, of course. Brilliant partnership, 150-plus partnership in a semi-final against Australia. What more could you ask for?" Aaron elaborated.Harmanpreet Kaur joined Jemimah Rodrigues in the middle when India were reduced to 59/2 at the fall of Smriti Mandhana's wicket. The duo stitched together a 167-run third-wicket partnership, with the Indian captain scoring an 88-ball 89.
