A delighted David Miller claimed it “feels really good” after making amends for his prior failure under pressure with a nervous last-over onslaught, hammering two sixes as Delhi Capitals defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru in an exciting IPL encounter in Bengaluru on Saturday.
After receiving harsh criticism for failing to complete the chase against Gujarat Titans when DC only needed two runs off two balls, Miller dramatically changed the course of events by hitting Romario Shepherd for two massive sixes in the last over, which allowed DC to surpass the 176-run target with one ball remaining.
RCB suffered their second loss of the year as DC needed 15 runs off the final over, but Miller maintained composure and made sure the visitors scampered home.
“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,” PTI quoted Miller as saying 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 gave appreciation to his partner, Tristan Stubbs (60 not out), for sustaining the belief during the difficult pursuit.
“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 claimed he backed himself to play freely in spite of the pressure after arriving early with DC reeling at 18/3.
“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.”
With Miller at the crease, Stubbs said he always thought the pursuit was doable.
“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.
Despite early failures, DC was keen to continue playing its shots, according to stand-in captain KL Rahul.
“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.”
Rajat Patidar, the captain of the RCB, thought his team’s batting performance was not up to the mark.
“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.”
