Jemimah Rodrigues can be anything you want her to be. Her seven-something rollercoaster years in international cricket are proof.

She can fill in for a veteran, as most careers begin. She can replace another, as most careers progress. And she can adapt to bat out of position, as most careers evolve in national set-up. She can be forgotten, dropped and drafted back in just as easily when a World Cup cycle resets. She'll front up as the stand-in captain when the seniors deserve rest. She will also shoulder the responsibility of completing the over when a teammate goes down injured. She can even be the scapegoat, and still not flinch.

She can be because, above all, she is a fighter.

When India's self-sabotaging ways cost them two tight games at a home World Cup in Vizag, Rodrigues ended up as the collateral damage in their batting vs bowling depth tradeoff. Eventually, another close game was conceded in Indore, making it a total loss of six crucial points and forcing a re-think of strategies. For the New Zealand game, with the last available semifinal spot at stake, India decided to shelve their reactive tactics and turn on proactive decision-making. One of which - perhaps the most important call of all - was promoting the returning Rodrigues at one-drop when they had an opening platform of 212 at more than run-a-ball.

Coming in at the fall of the aggressor in that partnership, Rodrigues knew she had to keep the tempo going. It was no small challenge coming off two ducks and a stint running drinks in her maiden World Cup, but the local star rose to the occasion. She took six balls, and three singles off them, to get her eye in, and once the boundaries started flowing there was no looking back.

The drives were her most-productive, and aesthetic, shot, fetching 29 in 12 balls including half a dozen boundaries. But, Rodrigues manoeuvred the field against spin with her trademark sweeps and reverse-sweeps just as expertly. She welcomed back New Zealand's most economical bowler, Jess Kerr, with back-to-back boundaries, and then laid into the opposition's most successful bowler on the night, Suzie Bates, with a couple more to register India's fastest fifty of the tournament in 38 balls.

Her full range of shots was on display in the 46th over when Rodrigues reverse-swept, cut, and hit a pristine drive through the vacant covers off Eden Carson despite some discomfort from a possible cramp. India had one over to play on the other side of a nearly 100-minute rain break, and she remained committed to the character, lofting Rosemary Mair down the ground to keep the boundaries trickling in till the last. As many as 51 runs came off the 37 deliveries she faced from spinners, at 137.83 while the remaining 25 were off pacers, in 18 deliveries, at 138.88.

This was surprisingly just the fourth innings at no. 3 for Rodrigues, who was once touted a natural heir to Mitahli Raj's spot in the ODIs for a very similar drop-and-run busy style of play suited to middle-overs passage. From a fledgling opening career domestically, the Mumbai batter adapted her game to the demands of the no. 5 position phenomenally well in this ICC Women's ODI Championship. Since the start of 2024, her death-overs strike-rate of 155.39 is bettered only by three other batters worldwide among the 36 who've faced at least 15 overs in the phase. Her aggregate of 331 in 14 innings is second only to Richa Ghosh (350, SR 163.55) in this period, underscoring the fact that she's been just as important for India as their designated finisher in closing stages.

On Thursday, she arrived slightly earlier than the onset of slog-overs and at a time when India were going at 6.36 RPO. Rodrigues scored 76 off the 128 India collected since, and by the end of their innings, the team had upped the run-rate to 6.94. During her stay at the crease, India went at 8.2 - just the kind of intent that had gone missing in the last two outings, since the Ghosh blinder against South Africa.

Against Australia, a similarly solid 150-plus opening stand was followed by brisk cameos. However, the lack of a sustained assault in the latter stages kept them to a below-par 330 for the conditions in Vizag. While chasing with a batter short in Indore, under near-identical conditions, the lower-order impetus never came despite the team cruising at 234 for 3 after 41 overs in pursuit of England's 288. Rodrigues then marked her comeback on another batting paradise on a familiar ground, determined to right a few wrongs - not just India's but to undo her own missteps as well.

She had then made a rapid 33 off 21 balls against the defending champions but fallen to a clever back-of-the-hand slower ball from Annabel Sutherland in a collapse of 6 for 36 in the final seven overs. In Navi Mumbai, she batted New Zealand out of the contest with a 55-ball 76 not out that was no less impactful than the centuries that came earlier in the innings.

In between the two outings, nobody explained why the axed batter to accommodate a sixth bowler had to be Rodrigues. So, the educated guess is that quantity won over quality in a "tough call". But Rodrigues showed in Navi Mumbai what happens when quality - intent-filled scoring in this case - is prioritised.

In his pre-match media address, Amol Muzumdar had admitted that the team was aware "there have been no hundreds yet" and emphasised on the importance of "starting well but finishing better". In Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal's contrasting but complimentary centuries half the ask was met but most pleasing to the head coach would be that last box ticked. In an earlier chat, he'd had stressed the "settled" top-five wasn't to be tinkered with, but flexibility rewarded him richly. That it came via the batter who, a game ago, seemed dispensable was part baffling and part gratifying.

Jemimah Rodrigues had fallen, been benched, and then risen again - reminding the world that you can't tie down someone born to fight back.