David Miller is undoubtedly one of the finest players of the shortest format of the game. Despite drifting away from his earlier grace, he is still a monster if he gets going and he won’t give you many chances.
The bottom line is simple. If you get a chance against the mighty Proteas southpaw in a T20 game, you cannot afford to lose it for what will follow is carnage. It was in 2013 when the Royal Challengers Bangalore were locked in a fierce battle against the now rechristened Punjab Kings.
Chasing 194, they were tottering at 52 for 3 at the end of 8 overs. Miller was new to the crease and at the other end waited an earlier maestro of the sport, David Hussey. While Hussey was thinking of changing gears, it was the South African hard-hitter who decided to take flight and from there it was a simple story of torment and agony for the RCB bowlers.
As the English maxim states, you live by the sword, you die by it, David Miller almost made this come true when he skied an effort while batting on 42. Much to everyone’s surprise, Kohli spilled a sitter and as it would later stand that he grassed the match too.
Fast forward the years to 2022 and the Gujarat Titans were up against the Chennai Super Kings. The story was somewhat similar with a flurry of early wickets falling for the Titans with the chase slowly heading into another disappointment. Miller walked in and he was a million lightyears from his usual intimidating T20 incarnation. Who would have known that he would have chosen the Chennai Super Kings to give a reminder of the beast that he used to be?
Almost single-handedly, he laid waste to the Chennai Super Kings bowler and Rashid Khan joined the party late to completely flip the tide around as the Titans sailed hammer and tongs to the finishing line. Despite Rashid’s fall in the penultimate over, Miller held his nerve and jammed Chris Jordan to get past the finishing line with one ball to spare.
The story could have been entirely different had Shivam Dube been a little more active in his enterprise to get Miller out in the 17th over. It was the third ball of the over and Bravo conjured another peach that lacked pace and Miller’s desperate slice at it went in the air. As it would seem per se, the ball landed just short of Shivam Dube.
However, if you delve a bit deeper, it would not feel that the ball fell short of Dube. Rather, it clearly was a botched enterprise from the all-rounder who didn’t even bother to dive. Probably the lights were too heavy for his eyes but then cricket is a game of inches. You miss out on one opportunity, no matter how hard it seems, you won’t be getting a second.
It was Miller who stayed until the end to see Gujarat’s chase through as they romped over Chennai to grab the zenith of the points table while Chennai’s woes in the tournament continued as they were handed their fifth defeat in six games.
Virat dropped Miller catch,
He went on to score 101* in that unbelievable run chase.Today Shivam Dube dropped Miller catch.
He went on to score 94* in this unbelievable run chase.— Merin Kumar ™ (@merin_kumar) April 17, 2022
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