MUMBAI: Stardom can transform careers, yet some players never lose sight of the people who first helped them take shape. India’s top-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues, celebrated for her role in India Women’s successful 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup campaign, has honoured her childhood coach, Prashant Shetty, with a brand-new SUV.
Rodrigues’ gesture is not without precedent. On Teachers’ Day in 2014, Virat Kohli had presented his childhood coach with a car, a story later detailed by Rajkumar Sharma in a 2016 book. A similar show of gratitude came from the Pandya brothers—Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya—who supported their childhood coach, Jitendra Singh, with financial help estimated at around Rs 70-80 lakh, which included the purchase of a vehicle.
Shetty has been working with Rodrigues since she was nine years old. That is when she first arrived at the MIG Cricket Club in Bandra with her father Ivan—himself a mechanical engineer and a cricket coach—looking to begin her journey through the club’s cricket academy.
Over the last two decades, the 25-year-old batter has continued to train under Shetty. Now, he has also launched his “Kkalpavriksha Cricket Clinic” in Bandra. Even on Saturday, Rodrigues went through a practice session with him. She is scheduled to travel to Bengaluru soon to join the India women’s team preparatory camp at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence, to run from May 10 to 16. After that, she will accompany the squad for a three-match T20I series in England, followed by the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup in June and July.
After Rodrigues struck an unbeaten 76 against the New Zealand women’s national team in a decisive match, she followed it with a commanding unbeaten 127 from 134 balls against the Australia women’s national team in the semifinals of the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup at the DY Patil Stadium. In the wake of those performances, Shetty had spoken about how a nine-year-old Bandra girl first walked into the MIG Cricket Club with the dream of becoming a cricketer.
“After seeing a glimpse of her talent, I decided to enrol her in our academy. The issue was that MIG Club only had a boys’ academy at that time. I spoke to the club officials, who know me well because I had also played for the club, and explained that she was a genuinely talented girl. Letting her practise here might not help the club, but it would help that girl. Once they were convinced by my reasoning, they made a special exception for Jemimah,” Shetty had said.
To many fans, Rodrigues is known as a grounded Bandra girl who enjoys playing the guitar, and she was among the standout performers in India’s maiden Women’s ODI World Cup win last year. Her latest gesture underlines how deeply she remains connected to her principles and roots.
Shetty, meanwhile, is also the head coach of Thane Skyrisers in the Mumbai Cricket Association’s first Women’s T20 League, which is set to begin next month. He additionally coaches Maharashtra and Delhi Capitals batter Prithvi Shaw, along with Mumbai and Chennai Super Kings opener Ayush Mhatre.
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