Bengaluru, Apr 18 (PTI) A chuffed David Miller said it “feels really good” after making amends for his recent failure under pressure with a nerveless last-over assault, smashing two sixes to guide Delhi Capitals to a thrilling win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match here Saturday.
Having faced sharp criticism for not being able to finish the chase against Gujarat Titans when DC needed just two runs off two balls, Miller turned the narrative around in style, hammering Romario Shepherd for two towering sixes in the final over to take DC past the 176-run target with a ball to spare.
DC needed 15 runs off the last over but Miller kept his cool, ensuring the visitors scampered home as RCB slumped to their second defeat of the season.
“Feels really good. After that game the other night, was a disappointing game, but to get it done today feels good. It’s always going to be at the back of the mind till you win another game,” Miller said after the match.
“Mentally just trying to stay in the moment and do what I can. They bowled six yorkers to me and I couldn’t really get going but chuffed it came off in the last six overs.” Miller also credited his partner Tristan Stubbs (60 not out) for keeping the belief alive during the tense chase.
“We wanted to try and finish it in the second-to-last over always, but with as many runs needed, we knew we needed one or two sixes. So we just tried to limit the dot balls and take the boundary balls,” he said.
“There were lot of breaks in the game so our minds were a bit all over the place. When I walked out, Stubbo said to me to keep the intensity really high and that helped. Always good finishing off games with Stubbo… for him being there was massive for us.” Player of the Match Stubbs, who walked in early with DC reeling at 18 for three, said he backed himself to play freely despite the pressure.
“I wasn’t quite ready in the changing room. I just thought of watching the ball and going from there. Came in really early and last two overs of the powerplay I thought I could have a go,” he said.
“KL ended up having most of the strike and played great shots and kept up our momentum. I thought he’s going well so I was just giving him the strike.” Stubbs said he always believed the chase was within reach, especially with Miller at the crease.
“Kept thinking three sixes and we’re straight back in it. I always thought the worst case, in the last over we can get whatever we need. But I didn’t want to take it into the last over.
“I knew we were going to do it, I didn’t know how. But thankfully Miller was at the other end. It’s his bread and butter,” he added.
Stand-in skipper KL Rahul said DC were determined to keep playing their shots despite early setbacks.
“The wicket did a bit early on. I could see Virat and Salt not happy with the way the ball was coming on and we lost three wickets in the powerplay. Overall a good game of cricket,” Rahul said.
“The conversation was to try and keep playing good cricket shots and how we can find the boundaries. We didn’t want to go into a shell and the run rate keeps going up.” “There was faith in Stubbs and Miller. They do this on the daily for South Africa and franchise cricket. We also knew the last over would be a gamble for RCB.” RCB captain Rajat Patidar felt his side fell short with the bat.
“That was really close but I feel that we were 15-20 runs short. The way we started, especially VK bhai and Salt, they gave a good start. Then we started losing wickets and it put us on the back foot,” Patidar said.
“I think the pitch was a bit tacky but the way we stretched the game to the last over was a positive sign for us. It’s a long tournament but we’ll go back and introspect on our errors and rectify them.” PTI APS APS AH AH
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