Just when all was lost for Gujarat Titans and it seemed that David Miller was waging a losing battle, the South African scored a brilliant unbeaten 94 to steer Gujarat Titans to a sensational three-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in Pune on Sunday night.
Miller walked in when Titans were 16 for three in the fourth over and the team was chasing 170 to win. The pitch was two paced, as CSK top-scorer Ruturaj Gaikwad said at the innings break. The 32-year-old South African did not give up even as Titans lost wickets at regular intervals.
Even when their stand-in captain Rashid Khan did not get enough runs in his initial 12 deliveries, Miller was his usual self, scoring the odd boundary, a four or a six, to keep Titans in the hunt. Though the asking rate was climbing, Miller did not lose hope.
A vastly experienced limited-overs specialist who plays in the T20 leagues all over the world, Miller has been playing the role of a finisher with aplomb, none greater than what he did on Sunday evening. Miller took time to settle down on the two-paced Pune pitch. He picked CSK slow bowlers Moeen Ali and Ravindra Jadeja for a six each over long-on to get set.
Even a wicket-maiden by Dwayne Bravo in the 13th over of the Titans innings to Rahul Tewatia before claiming the wicket did not worry Miller, who regularly pulled for sixes and hit through covers for fours. The power with which Miller hit, the CSK fielders helplessly saw the ball either sail over the boundary into the 19,000-odd spectators, almost all of them cheering for CSK, or race through the gaps for fours.
Miller reached his 11th IPL fifty in his 95th match with a drive through covers off Ravindra Jadeja, getting to the milestone in just 28 balls. Anything short was pulled, anything wide outside the off stump was dismissed through the covers, not to mention anything full toss was given the treatment it deserved.
Miller was lucky in a way that when he was on 78 and Titans 50 away from the target, Shivam Dube in the deep did not go for the catch, perhaps unsighted by the lights in the background. CSK captain Ravindra Jadeja, the deprived bowler Bravo and other CSK players expressed their disappointment over the miss as they knew the value of Miller and his wicket.
Miller, with his man-of-the-match performance, more than made up for the absence of Titans' regular captain Hardik Pandya.
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