A masterful unbeaten knock of 127 from Jemimah Rodrigues powered India into the final of the Women’s ODI World Cup on Thursday, beating Australia by five wickets at the D.Y. Patil Stadium.

Chasing a massive 339 runs for victory, India got off to the worst possible start. The recalled Shafali Verma fell LBW in the second over to give an early dent to their chances. Smriti Mandhana, joined by Rodrigues in the middle, then set about building a foundation. While the former was scratchy to start off, it was the latter who gave a real jumpstart to the innings.

Promoted to the number three for a second time in three matches, Rodrigues batted intently from the word go, coupling singles with the odd boundary to set an early tempo to the chase.

The pair put on 46 runs for the second wicket before

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