South African big-hitter David under the pump after refusing to take a run off penultimate ball in DC’s agonising one-run loss to GT
David Miller wears a dejected look after Delhi Capitals’s defeat to Gujarat Titans on Wednesday. Pic/PTI
It was heartbreak of the worst kind for hosts Delhi Capitals on a breezy Wednesday night here. Needing 13 to win off the last over, Gujarat Titans managed to squeeze out their first win, beating the hosts by one run, as David Miller erred in the final moments of the chase.
GT pacer Prasidh Krishna began the final over with Vipraj Nigam hitting him for four, but then dismissed him off the very next ball. Kuldeep Yadav joined Miller and immediately took a single to get the big-hitter on strike. Miller blasted the next delivery for a six. With two needed off two balls, Miller inexplicably refused a single off the penultimate delivery and failed to score off the last ball, leaving DC hopelessly short by a run.
Prasidh Krishna. Pic/IPL
Gill sensed his chance
GT skipper Shubman Gill admitted that as soon as Miller did not take the single off the second-last delivery, he felt, “We now have a chance to win.”
GT leg-spinner Rashid Khan was also mighty pleased to see Miller not take that single. “When they needed eight runs off the last three balls and then two off the last two, it was very close. We needed one dot ball. Good Miller didn’t take the single,” said Rashid, who was GT’s most successful bowler, claiming 3-17.
GT players celebrate their win. Pic/IPL
Harbhajan unhappy
Former India skipper Harbhajan Singh openly criticised Miller for not taking that single. “He [Miller] tried to play the hero and said ‘no, I’ll hit two runs off the last ball.’ But what happened after that? The last ball ended up being a dot ball, Kuldeep got run out, and the match that they [DC] were set to win, was lost. Gujarat Titans said, ‘Thank you very much, David Miller because what you did made it feel like you’re still part of GT’,” Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel. Miller was part of GT from 2022 to 2024 before moving to LSG last season, followed by DC this year.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar though, put things in perspective, saying Miller can’t be faulted. “Miller was backing himself. He had been striking the ball well and believed he could finish it. You can’t fault that intent. These are very fine margins in pressure situations,” Gavaskar told JioHotstar. He, however, admitted that Miller should have gone for that single. “In this case [DC vs GT], in hindsight, a single might have been the better option [for Miller], especially after Kuldeep Yadav managed one earlier,” he added.
16
No. of times an IPL match has been decided by a one-run margin
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