DC vs GT: What was David Miller thinking — why didn’t he run?

NEW DELHI: 'What was he thinking?'. 'What was he doing?'. 'Why didn't he run?' These were some of the questions that did the rounds in the aftermath of Delhi Capitals' one-run loss against Gujarat Titans in the ongoing IPL 2026.

The 'he' in question is David Miller. The South African batter had a whirlwind experience at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday.

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First, while fielding, he picked up an injury on his right hand when he made a dive on the practice pitches to stop a Sai Sudharsan cover drive.

Having tried to brush that off, he came to bat but the effects of it became far too clear just 10 balls into the 211-run chase. The blow had already been further exacerbated when he dived to make the crease.

At that juncture, DC were 130/3 and needed 81 from 42 balls with KL Rahul well set on 69 from 37 balls. When Miller re-appeared, DC had just lost Tristan Stubbs to a run out and the equation on the scoreboard read: 51 needed from 20 balls. Three balls later, Rahul went for a well-outside-off-ball from Mohammed Siraj and the inside edge was lapped easily by keeper Jos Buttler.

The onus and weight of responsibility had suddenly shifted towards the tattered and bruised 36-year-old Miller.

He added only 6 from 3 balls upon resumption of his innings as the required rate ballooned to 18.00. And that is where the game turned.

Miller hit 6, 4 and 6 off Mohammed Siraj, with the pacer conceding 23 runs in the penultimate over to bring the equation closer. It helped further that GT were penalised for a slow over rate, forcing an extra fielder back into the circle.

13 needed from 6 became 8 from 3 balls when Miller got his chance in the final over. Next ball, Prasidh Krishna came around the wicket, bowled into the arc and was duly punished with the resultant six landing in the third tier of the stadium. A massive 106 metre hit!

Then came the moment which baffled everyone and will be discussed for weeks at end. A pull shot went towards deep square leg and Miller refused a single with DC needing 2 from 2 balls. Had they completed that safe run, Kuldeep Yadav would have been asked to finish things off or at the very least force a Super Over.

Instead, as Prasidh bowled a smart last ball under pressure, DC were unable to add to their tally and were instead caught one run short.

Finisher without the finish

A few days ago, as Punjab Kings chased down 210 runs against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming claimed there is no room for finishers in T20 anymore.

“Look, I don’t think there is a thing called finishers anymore. It’s right from ball one, everyone is going at a rate of knocks. It’s not ‘build up to the 16th over and then go harder’. Everyone’s going hard from ball one. So the run rates of 10, 11, 12 all the way through are what’s expected and you’re not really getting the big peaks towards the end," he said.

The DC chase, albeit unsuccessful, disproved that theory. If Delhi Capitals were scoring at 10.5 runs an over in the powerplay and 8.77 in the middle, they upped the ante to 13.40 in the final five overs. The 16th over went for 16 runs and Siraj's 19th produced 23 runs - the joint-highest of the night.

Back to the question on Miller's decision to not run and no one had a fitting answer. Gill believed they had a "chance to win." DC skipper Axar Patel said things could have gone either way. "I think, this type of close game, you can, you know, point out anything. So I think, yes, we played very good cricket. As I said earlier, in a close chase, in a close game, you can point out a lot of things. But I think in the chase, I think we could have played smarter," said Axar.

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DC opener Pathum Nissanka didn't divulge much when he said, "We haven’t discussed it yet, but sometimes it happens in cricket," in the post match press conference. Rashid Khan, the Player of the Match, was quite pleased that he wasn't in Miller's shoes at that moment.

What was going through Miller's head can only be best explained by him. One can only hazard a guess from the outside. But on the inside, DC would rue this golden opportunity lost.