With South Africa needing 16 runs to win in the final over of the 2024 T20 World Cup final, only six deliveries stood between India and glory. It looked like the Proteas would win, Rohit Sharma sent his trump card in the guise of Hardik Pandya to bowl the final over.
Pandya began the over with a full toss, outside off, and it looked like it would go for a six. But instead David Miller could only power it to Suryakumar Yadav at long-off for a sensational catch. Suryakumar steadied himself on the ropes and kept his eyes on the ball all the way through. The India star took the catch and released it just as his momentum took him beyond the ropes. Then he came back in to complete the catch.
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Miller's departure meant game over for South Africa, who stuttered at 161/7, and five more balls to go. South Africa eventually reached 169/8 in 20 overs, losing by seven runs. The result saw India end their ICC trophy wait, having last won the Champions Trophy in 2013.
David Miller on T20 World Cup final vs India
{{/usCountry}}Miller's departure meant game over for South Africa, who stuttered at 161/7, and five more balls to go. South Africa eventually reached 169/8 in 20 overs, losing by seven runs. The result saw India end their ICC trophy wait, having last won the Champions Trophy in 2013.
David Miller on T20 World Cup final vs India
{{/usCountry}}Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Miller took a walk down memory lane and spoke about Hardik's delivery. "Sport is not fair for everyone. I wouldn't have done anything different on that ball, accept for timing it better. I wasn't actually expecting a full toss like that. I always do kind of have a full toss in mind, but it just caught me a little bit off guard and I got it just slightly wrong. But it was a little breeze that was kind of coming across us. Not necessarily into us. But it was slightly more in and across," he said.
"So the margins are so small so it was really frustrating. I thought I had enough on it. I knew it was going to be tight. You know, you kind of get that feeling as soon as you hit it, you know it's going to be. Thought I had enough but yah, it just kind of held up and the rest is history," he added.
Lamenting the loss, Miller stated, "Frustration, disappointment, failure. All these negative things come into your head. It was the moment for me to win the game. But it wasn't for me to do it. I felt like I had let the country down, I have let myself down and my teammates down. It's quite a difficult moment to wrap around."