Although it wasn’t the picture David Miller would have preferred to release, it was ideal for the time. India had defeated South Africa by seven runs in the 2024 T20 World Cup final in Barbados in the frantic moments before the scene was broadcast around the globe.
Now Miller stood, barely able to contain his sobs, leaning on his wife, Camilla Harris, who held him tenderly.
Miller lifted Hardik Pandya’s wide full toss towards the long-off boundary, where Suryakumar Yadav caught it, flung it up, tripped over the cushions and then dived back onto the pitch in time to snare it again before it bounced. At that point, South Africa required 16 off six. It was not so much a catch as it was a miracle.
With Miller on strike, South Africa would have required 10 off five if that stroke had gone for six. The name of another team might have been on the trophy if that stroke had gone for six. If only six had been hit by that stroke.
A year, five months, and nine days have passed, and the next tournament in Sri Lanka and India will begin 62 days from now.
It doesn’t matter that it seems too soon. For South Africans, what counts is how their side can advance this time.
Miller said at a press conference in Cuttack on Monday, “I’ve spoken to a lot of different people, and teams who have been very successful over the years with different trophies and World Cups.” What had he learnt from that experience?
“I don’t think there’s one recipe to win a World Cup. I think it takes a group effort, management and players included. It’s standing up when the moments matter.”
Given that South Africa had won all eight of their previous tournament games, does losing in Bridgetown still hurt?
“I thought it was a fantastic final. We were just short at the end, but all in all we found ways to win. There were some very close games throughout for us and we got over the line, so you build confidence as you go along.”
Miller appeared to add, “I think we’re really in a good space, but we’re going to need some of that going forward in a couple of months’ time.
There’s a huge pool of players putting up their hands, so it’s going to be tough for the selectors.”
“We’ve got some world-class players and we’re going to have to make sure that we properly switch on for every game.”
With only nine of their 25 T20I victories since that final, including a 3-1 thumping by India in South Africa in November 2024, and after a lacklustre showing in the third and final ODI in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, where India won by nine wickets with 10.1 overs remaining, the South Africans will need to flip a switch in their five-match T20I series that begins in Cuttack on Tuesday.
Miller, who has been out with a hamstring injury since being granted permission to skip the series in Australia in August so that he could participate in the Hundred, was not involved in that disappointment or in 44 of the 54 white-ball matches that South Africa has played since the final.
With another World Cup approaching, he’s back, and Camilla deserves a different result this time.
India
