South Africa middle-order batter David Miller dismissed the reports of his calling it quits from the T20I following the Proteas heartbreaking defeat against Team India in T20 World Cup 2024 Final at the Kensington Oval in Barbados' Bridgetown on Saturday, June 29.
South Africa made it to their first ever World Cup Final in their cricketing history after thrashing Afghanistan in the semifinal. However, the Proteas wait to lift their first-ever World Cup trophy continued as they lost to the 2nd-time champions of the T20 World Cup India.
Following South Africa's defeat in their maiden World Cup final, there were rumours and reports that David Miller decided to retire from T20Is. However, the 35-year-old confirmed that he will continue to play for the Proteas men in the shortest format.
Taking to his Instagram story, Miller wrote, "Contrary to some reports, I have NOT retired from T20 international cricket. I will continue to be available to play for the Proteas. The best is yet to come."
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In T20 World Cup 2024, David Miller scored 169 runs, including a fifty, at an average of 28.16 and a strike rate of 102.42 in 8 innings.
In T20Is, Miller has amassed 2437 runs, including two centuries and seven fifties, at an average of 33.38 and a strike rate of 140.64 in 125 matches. His best performance came against India, where he smashed 106 off 47 balls at an average of 225.53 in Guwahati in October 2022. However, his effort went in vain as South Africa failed chase down 238-run target set by Team India.
David Miller's wicket turned game around for Team India
David Miller was at the strike when South Africa required 16 off 6 balls to win the match. Since Miller was the only hard-hitter at the crease after Heinrich Klassen's dismissal, the entire pressure fell on him to take the team past the finishing line.
On the first ball of the final over, Miller attempted for a six off full-toss delivery by Hardik Pandya towards the long-off. However, Suryakumar Yadav sprinted towards the long-off to take the catch but juggled it up as he was going over the boundary ropes. Then he came back in to take the game-changing catch. Miller's dismissal simultaneously dashed South Africa's hopes of winning the World Cup.
After Miller's dismissal, South Africa scored only 8 runs off the next five balls against Hardik Pandya and fell 8 runs short of chasing 177-run target.
