“It has been really, really encouraging to be part of the Gujarat Titans and just know that I am 100% backed.”
It is not often David Miller gets to say this for an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise. Though the swashbuckling South African middle-order batter has been a regular feature in the IPL since his debut in 2012 but in recent years, he was certainly not amongst the first-choice foreign players.
It was back in 2016 when he was with Kings XI Punjab that Miller last played all 14 matches in the season. Since then his number of matches along with performance has dipped consistently. In fact, in 2020, when the southpaw was with the Rajasthan Royals, he got just one game in the whole season. Next year when Steve Smith moved away from Rajasthan, Miller got to feature in nine matches and scored only 124 runs at an average of 24.80 and strike rate of 109.73.
Hence, coming into a new franchise like Gujarat Titans, where Miller is one of the premier overseas batting options, has seemed to have done him a world of good. And this newly-found confidence in his game was on display on Sunday night.
David Miller led Gujarat Titans to a win over Chennai Super Kings on the last ball. Image: Sportzpics
Miller, with an unbeaten 51-ball 94, produced a miraculous run-chase against an experienced Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowling attack on a slowish track in Pune. Titans were chasing 170 on a pitch where the ball was holding, gripping and turning and with three world-class spinners in the ranks, CSK had an ideal attack to exploit those conditions. Furthermore, Gujarat were without Hardik Pandya, their best batter in the season and when Miller came to the crease, they were tottering at 16 for 3 in the fourth over.
Miller loves pace on the ball and knowing that CSK skipper Ravindra Jadeja gave mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana an extra over — his third inside the powerplay. And once the field was spread out, Jadeja brought himself on along with Moeen Ali at the other end.
It was a test of patience for Miller. With asking rate climbing up to almost 10 runs per over he cannot afford to play them out safely. Also wickets were falling at the other end and he was almost the last hope for his team.
Amid these circumstances, the Protea batter rolled back the years to show his vintage class. He did not go all-out, which perhaps. most of the other batters would have done at that point. Instead, the left-hander, picked his bowlers and his area of hitting (one side of the boundary was on the smaller size) to score his runs. For instance, he went after Moeen Ali, who was the least effective amongst the three CSK spinners. Also, he preferred the straight and square leg boundaries more to minimise the risk factor.
It was nothing short of a masterclass of measured power-hitting. Even in the last over when he was needed to get 13 and refused singles in the first two balls, Miller looked composed. He was confident of hitting two big shots in those remaining four deliveries. And that’s what he exactly did to steer his team home quite dramatically, much like what he did nine years back against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Punjab colours.
“Yes [the knock] took me down memory lane. I wanted to see the ball [and] hit the ball,” Miller said while collecting his “Player of the Match’ award. I wanted to express myself from the word go. It came off really well. Coming in at the powerplay allowed me to shine, when the ball is harder than normal. Got more time too, so that was cool.”
David Miller remained unbeaten on 94 from 51 balls against Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. Image: Sportzpics
Amongst the all South African batters who have featured in the IPL, Miller has the most number of runs after AB de Villers. So, the talent has always been there but the problem with Miller has always been his consistency. And with quite replacements available in the squad, often these team management got impatient with him.
“Unfortunately, in the last four to five years, I haven’t really played as much IPL cricket as I would have liked to,” addressing this issue of inconsistency Miller clarified in the post-match presser. “The nature of the tournament is that there are only four overseas players [in an XI], and the other overseas players are always going to miss out. And I have sort of found myself in an in-between place where I have been sort of in and out, in and out of Kings XI [Punjab] and then Rajasthan [Royals]. I have played some decent games there but I felt I couldn’t really get going.”
Hopefully, in the Titans he won’t be cornered like before. There is a sense of stability here for Miller and at times it can work wonders.
“We have a nice environment, we enjoy each other’s success and I think that goes a long way to doing well. But more importantly, it has been really nice to play every game.”
Now with a secure place in the XI, Gujarat can hope that Miller can take his form deep into the tournament.
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