The quiet reset that brought Jemimah Rodrigues back

Jemimah Rodrigues found her groove the moment she stopped chasing it.

For most of WPL 2026, one could sense the effort as a batter and as a captain—an earnest attempt to fix something. Rodrigues later admitted she was trying too hard, chasing form and rhythm. She practiced relentlessly, wanting it so badly it drifted further away. "Like the butterfly?," she said.

Then, before a must-win game, she let go. Not carelessly, but by backing her instincts. She skipped practice, went for coffee, hit reset, and showed up just the same. Important runs and rhythm returned, poetically timed.

Delhi Capitals' Eliminator against Gujarat Giants on Tuesday was loaded with context. The Giants had been DC's tormentors this season, twice denying them a smoother route to the finals with last-over heroics from Sophie Devine. In both those matches, Rodrigues misfired, falling cheaply instead of leading the way.

En route to Finals week, there was a fifty—a sign of returning form, though her trademark ease was somewhat missing. But when it mattered most, Rodrigues found it again.

Her 41 off 23 balls in the Eliminator was brisk and authoritative—the right mix of intent and execution. "Clear heads, cool heads," as Chinelle Henry later put it.

The platform was set by openers Lizelle Lee and Shafali Verma, who blasted 89 runs in seven overs. But momentum swung when both fell in the eighth over to Georgia Wareham. The responsibility shifted to the middle-order. Rodrigues arrived and did more than arrest the slide.

On a pitch with occasional unpredictable bounce, she started quietly with a run-a-ball 12 before launching. The shift came in Ash Gardner's over: Rodrigues sank to her back knee and lofted a mighty shot over mid-off, sending it deep beyond the ropes.

What followed was a masterclass in calculated aggression: a driven cover shot off Devine, a pre-meditated reverse-lap to unsettle Wareham, and a neat cut through a heavily-guarded point region. It was a knock that announced the arrival of a player on the big stage—or, for Delhi, their captain's return.

Rodrigues' purposeful 41 in a 68-run partnership with Laura Wolvaardt ensured DC didn't give the Giants a whiff, despite created opportunities. It was a pivotal part of amending the heartbreakingly close finishes from the regular season.

Unshackled from her own expectations and external pressures, Rodrigues finally dictated the tempo. Signs of this emerged in the game before the Eliminator—a turning point she now credits. In a low-scoring chase against UP Warriorz, she quickly arrested a slide by targeting spinners, shielding young Niki Prasad, and finishing with an 18-ball 34 in a virtual knockout.

On Tuesday, she raised the bar, putting Delhi Capitals in their fourth straight final. DC are used to grabbing the direct ticket with dominance, but this time, the road took a testing detour. In the bargain, they found their captain again.