OPINION
Follow UsMotivation, drive and determination: three words that could define the Gujarat Titans this year.
Coming into this clash, they had more than enough reasons to be motivated, they had the chance to play the final in front of their fans, in Ahmedabad. The determination factor was instilled in their beliefs after how they went under the radar of the pre-tournament favourite teams.
And drive is what came from within the Titans’ camp. Despite being put under the pump multiple times this season, Gujarat have always braved the challenge and have thrived under the pressure. If that doesn’t define a champion side, none would.
Then, there was a 32-year-old David Miller, whose career followed the trajectory of the three above words. As we explored earlier in the season, the air of doubt over Miller was always on the table, especially considering how he didn’t quite have a positive effect on the tournament.
Read: Miller confirms his Killer version is truly alive
Nine balls, nine runs, 30 runs were still required off 14 deliveries. Gujarat had a mini-slump, all eyes were on Miller as he took strike. Even miles away from the venue, you could feel the pressure floating in the air as Miller locked his target. Up against the best spinner in the competition, Yuzvendra Chahal, the task wasn’t easy.
It was a leg-break that was floated outside the arc but that didn’t stop Miller. Whack, boom and miles away it landed. It broke that tension. The Gujarat bench were on their feet, they knew what had just happened. Chahal looked away, the equation was more than easy, 23 runs off just 12 balls.
That was the Miller effect.
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“What has changed with David Miller this year,” asked Harsha Bhogle in the post-match presentation. Miller stood there, took a pause and said, “I think opportunity.”
The last time Miller played 14 games, it was in 2016 and since then, owing to the pressure of competition amongst the overseas spots hasn’t been guaranteed of a place. Miller had gone unsold in the first round of the 2022 IPL Auction.
If you join the first two dots, you know where this air of doubt stems from. The perception around how Miller is a killer at the death has been talked about a lot.
But this season, the South African showed an evolution in his game. Multiple times during the season, the left-hander has been demanded to bat long and take the team home from precarious positions. Miller has faced 318 deliveries this season, the most he has had in an IPL season and likewise, his 449 runs too is a testament of the opportunity.
What is distinct though, is that the left-hander both averages 64.14 with the bat and strikes at 141.2. His approach has remained the same, start slow but hurt so much at the end that the start often goes unnoticed. Qualifier 1 was yet another indicator of how Miller has perfectly paced his innings.
Off the first ten balls, Miller just got five runs but from thereon, to finish on 68 off 38 balls, shows how much he has learnt his own game.
“Miller turns back the clock in this IPL,” will read the headline of every publication in the coming hours but it wasn’t quite that when the South African took strike in the 19th over of the innings. RR skipper Samson trusted Obed McCoy to do that.
Two good deliveries and off the third, thud goes the ball through the long-off boundary. But then two dots off the last three deliveries put the Titans once again back in pressure, taking it to the 20th over with 16 runs needed. No other franchise this season have soaked the pressure in the final over as good as the Titans.
But the chips were still even-steven. If it wasn’t in the first part of the season, after the loss against Mumbai, the chips were definitely even-steven. Titans knew what was it to fail from a winning position and as their skipper Hardik Pandya emphasized, it was a position that they didn’t want to be. However, three sixes later, it was more like a formality that was waiting to be completed.
But it isn’t Rahul Tewatia or Rashid Khan, it was David Miller.
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If not for a ten-team IPL, Miller might have remained unsold. He might have been busy elsewhere on a golf course, relaxing his time away from the game. But Gujarat had their trust in Miller. And the result was there for everyone to see. Slowly yet steadily, the left-hander started putting up scores, notching the strike-rate up and finding the middle of the blade that people doubted.
What has been clear and distinct winner for the Titans setup has been the role-clarity. Multiple times during the course of the season, different players have come out and state how the clarity has helped them solely focus on their game.
And if you hadn’t paid any attention thus far to that, Miller enunciated it today.
“I've been given a role, I felt extremely backed from the outset. My personal game - I'm enjoying my role, I've been playing for many years now. Understanding my game a lot better,” he uttered after the win that takes the Titans to the final of the competition.
This season, Miller has shown very little weakness. In fact, he’s averaged 51.4 against pace and 96, NINETY-SIX against spin while having a strike-rate of 141 throughout the tournament. For batters with minimum 300 balls this season, Miller has the lowest dot-ball percentage, at just 28.3.
While he might have played for a new team, it was the old Killer version of Miller that we have witnessed in the tournament. And for now, as Rajasthan have experienced it first-hand, it is Game, Set and Match Match, Chase and Miller.
