CHAMPIONS TROPHY 2025
Lahore, March 6: Frustrated with the scheduling of Champions Trophy’s second semifinal after to-and-fro flights between Pakistan and Dubai in a span of just 12 hours, South African batter David Miller is now hoping for a New Zealand victory in the tournament’s title clash against India.
With a brilliant hundred, Miller was the lone ranger in his side’s defeat to the Black Caps in their last-four stage clash in Lahore on Wednesday.
“I’ll be honest with you. I think I’ll be supporting New Zealand,” Miller was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
South Africa had to take an early morning flight to Dubai the night after playing their final group game in Karachi. With the tournament being played in a hybrid model, both Australia and South Africa were camped in Dubai waiting for the result of the group game between India and New Zealand.
As Group B toppers, South Africa had to take the flight back to Pakistan to play their semifinal as the last-four match involving India was to be held in Dubai.After scoring a hundred in a losing cause, Miller termed the scheduling not ideal.“It’s only an hour-and-40-minute flight, but the fact that we had to do that. It’s early morning, it’s after a game, and we had to fly. Then we got to Dubai at 4pm.
“And at 7.30 in the morning we had to come back. It doesn’t make it nice. It’s not like we flew five hours, and we had enough time to recover and recuperate. But it was not an ideal situation still,” Miller said.
The final will be played in Dubai on Sunday. Miller’s comments came after his teammate Rassie van der Dussen had referred to India’s advantage of playing all their games at one venue.Though he wants New Zealand to win the final against India, Miller expects it to be a tight affair.
“They’re both incredibly good teams. India have shown the world how really good they are. They’ve been playing some good cricket for a number of years now and they’ve got some seriously good players. It’s going to be a great game,” said Miller.South Africa had lost last year’s T20 World Cup final to India and on Wednesday they once again failed in a knockout game.
“There were really good contributions, a couple of fifties up front. We had a really good foundation. Unfortunately, in the middle, we lost a couple of wickets too many,” he said of the steep run chase against New Zealand.
“At the end of the day, it’s a team effort. Everyone’s trying out there to do their best. It would have been nice to have a rematch against India. But life is not fair sometimes. Anyone has to work really hard to achieve trophies.” Despite Miller’s valiant effort, South Africa’s familiar heartbreak in knockout games continued, adding another chapter to their quest for an elusive ICC trophy. As the cricketing world gears up for a high-voltage final between India and New Zealand, the Proteas will reflect on what could have been while hoping to break their jinx in future tournaments. (PTI)