David Miller starred with the bat in Gujarat Titans’ (GT) thrilling three-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Match 29 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 at MCA Stadium, Pune on Sunday (April 17).
Chasing 170 to win, Miller smashed 94 not out off 51 balls (8 fours and 6 sixes) to take GT over the line with one ball to spare.
Speaking after the game, the southpaw said he is loving being "100 percent backed" by Gujarat Titans, which was not the case when he was playing for Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals.
“The last two-three-four years I have been playing really nice cricket, feeling positive and I have been scoring nice personally, back at home, overseas, and so on, unfortunately the last four-five years, I haven't really played as much IPL cricket as I would have liked to," Miller said at the post-match media interaction.
"... the nature of the game, tournament (is such that) there are only four overseas (players) and other overseas players are always going to miss out and I sort of found myself in between a place where I have been in and out of Kings XI (Punjab Kings) and then Rajasthan.
"I played some decent games there but I felt like I couldn't get going and it has been encouraging to be part of Gujarat Titans and just know I am 100 per cent backed, and have a really nice environment, enjoy each other's success, that goes a long way in doing well, but more importantly it is nice to play every game."
Reflecting on his knock, Miller said he started it pretty well and did not want to stop after that.
"Yes, I mean we were obviously in a little bit of trouble, but I still thought, if we batted 20 overs, we still had some sort of chance and you never know if you were sitting on the sideline.
"So, I just wanted to try and play my game, the way I started my innings, I thought I started pretty well and I didn't want to stop, I wanted to keep going," he remarked.
During the run-chase, GT lost their top three for just 16 runs as Shubman Gill (0), Vijay Shankar (0), and Abhinav Manohar (12) fell cheaply. The score soon became 48/4 and then GT further slipped to 87/5 with Wriddhiman Saha (11) and Rahul Tewatia (6) also failing to contribute much.
Amid the pressure situation, Miller and Rashid Khan stitched a 70-run partnership for the sixth wicket to bring GT back in the contest. While Rashid got out after scoring a blazing 21-ball 40, the left-hander held the one end firmly.
With 13 needed off the last over, Miller took on CSK’s pace spearhead Chris Jordan, smashing him for a six, four and then ran a couple to seal the deal for the Titans.
"The (run) rate was already at 9 or 10 when I came in; it had gone up pretty quickly. I mean at the end of the day, I cannot control what sort of the other batters do and at that time, whoever was batting with me, I just wanted to try and build something with him and see where it goes," said Miller, when asked what his mindset was when the team was five down.
"They had three spinners and I thought if they bowl well, they are definitely bowl all the overs towards me, and then try and change up the pace bowlers and work it around, but the fact that we took them (spinners) on early on, they were forced to bowl the pace bowlers and that was pretty much the plan," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
