South African batter David Miller has shared the emotions he felt after Suryakumar Yadav took the stunning catch off his bat in the T20
World Cup 2024 final. He also admitted to feeling like he had let the entire country down as well. With 16 to get off the final over in the decider, Hardik Pandya bowled a full toss outside off-stump. Miller belted it straight down the ground, but Suryakumar took a stunning catch at the boundary line to prevent the ball from going for a six. The Proteas, who had the upper hand at one point, eventually lost by seven runs as well.
Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo’s CricketMonthly, Miller said, “Pretty hard to explain, but yeah, I suppose anger is probably one of them. Frustration, disappointment, failure, all these negative things come into your head. I watch a lot of different sports and they always talk about the moment to win the game. And I suppose that was the moment to win the game. And it wasn’t to be for me. I took it pretty hard. I felt like I had let the country down, I had let myself and my teammates down. I almost just didn’t want to walk off the field.”
“No, I wouldn’t have, other than maybe getting a little bit better contact. I wasn’t actually expecting a full toss like that. I always do have a full toss in mind, but it caught me a little off guard and I got it just slightly wrong. But it was a little breeze that was kind of coming across us, not necessarily into us, more slightly in and across. So yeah, the margins are so small. I actually thought I had enough on it,” he further added.
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While chasing 177 for victory, Heinrich Klaasen smashed a 27-ball 52. Klaasen’s wicket in the 17th over proved to be the turning point as India bounced back. Keshav Maharaj took a single off the final ball of the 18th over, denying Miller the strike as well. The veteran also claimed that Maharaj is a promising batter as well.
“Hmm… I have played with Keshav for a long time – since I was 11 years old. He can hold a bat. In that situation, there was still a bit to do [South Africa needed 20 runs from the last two overs], so to try and hog the strike on a wicket like that, it had obviously crossed my mind, but I backed my boy Kesh. He can hold a bat and get off strike and he can hit boundaries. I’m quite a simple-thinking guy. I want to be objective in my thinking, try and keep my thinking quite level. I don’t want to go too high or too low. It’s just about taking the punches when they come and gathering,” he added.
“Fortunately I had a month off after that at home where I could spend some time with my wife. It was nice to get back to a bit of simple normality – sleep in my own bed, connect with my wife, go for walks, runs, exercise. I feel the normal things in life are probably more important than a game of cricket,” David Miller concluded.
