Published: May 12, 2015, 09:09 AM (IST)
Edited: May 12, 2015, 11:10 AM (IST)
With both Davids rocking the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Monday night during Match 48 between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), it was mostly South Africa‘s David Miller, that stole the show. Australia‘s David Warner had earlier blasted a 52-ball 81, as SRH finished on a challenging total of 185. However, KXIP’s quick lose of wickets resulted in making the chase even more difficult, until it was Miller, who brought things back in favour of KXIP in the last over and almost pulled out a thrilling win, but lost by just five runs.
With 28 required off the final over, Miller smashed ever ball all over the park, scoring a quick 22, but falling short of the target by just a stroke away. Although, his team lost the game, he walked back to the pavilion with a smile on his face, receiving huge appreciation from his teammates in the dressing room, as he spoke in an interview with iplt20.com.
“Absolutely! This is my best knock so far this year in the IPL. I haven’t really had a cracker of a season to be honest. I have just been there and thereabouts with a few good starts. I am actually feeling really good about my batting at the moment. I knew just hanging in there would always help and one big knock will always be round the corner. I produced one tonight and it feels really nice,” he said.
“I will take a lot of confidence from this knock. It will give me a lot of self belief. Every single time you walk on the field there is a lot of expectations being a cricketer. It is all about performing as well as you can and when you do perform you have to make sure you enjoy that and take a lot of confidence from it into the next innings. I haven’t had an amazing IPL but I have definitely been in the hunt. I have been feeling good but I have just been unfortunate with a few dismissals and poor shot selections. You are only as good as your last knock and this game is amazing because one day you can score big runs and the other day hit a low. You have to learn to take the ups and downs in a good stride,” he added.
On being asked on how was he able to hit so clean in the final over, he said, “If I can be critical of myself, maybe I missed out on a low full toss but other than that I felt really good striking it cleanly. I was pretty fortunate to get a couple of full tosses in the last over as well. But at the end it was too many to get in the last two overs. The pitch was a little bit up and down and considering that, credit to Moises Henriques who bowled really well in the middle overs.”
He also spoke on the reasons for KXIPs failure this season, “To be honest I don’t have an opinion if chopping and changing is right or wrong. Personally I think changing the team a lot of times could have an effect on the players. But, we do have a lot of depth in the squad and trying a few options upfront was probably a good thing to do. Last year we did get off to a lot better starts and this year we haven’t quite kicked off with consistent starts. But such is the nature of T20 and it can happen. Last year we were consistent and things went our way but this year we haven’t clicked. There are certain things that happened last year which was great but those little things have unfortunately failed to happen this time around.”
“I think we have been really up for every single game. Everyone has been really geared up in the games we have played so far. It is a privilege to be in this competition. As individuals we don’t need any motivation other than being a part of this competition. I don’t think it is a lack of trying but we haven’t quite performed,” he added.
He concluded by saying on how he likes to draw inspiration from AB de Villiers knock the last night. “I think just the shots that he plays are unbelievable. He plays everywhere around the wicket. A lot of times people may criticize the way he plays because it is unbelievable shots being hit all round the park and people don’t expect someone to play that kind of shots. The way that he commits himself to every shot is something that I would like to take on board in my batting. He commits a hundred percent to whatever he does and he believes that he can do it. He is the best in the world. He is very special. Not many people can do what he does. The freedom, the commitment he shows towards his shots and the enjoyment factor when he plays out there is something that I would love to take from him,” he concluded.
