By: Mohit Singhal
IND Vs SA Match: Seems like David Miller has taken his dream run in IPL to the International colours as is evident from today's outing when Killer Miller once again bamboozled the opposition bowling to chase down their highest ever score of 212 with five balls to spare at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
He found an able partner in Rassie Van Der Dussen (75*, 46b, 7×4, 5×6) who though crawled initially but found his rhythm at a later stage and played shots all across the park to cover it gradually and take the visitors 1-0 up in the 5 match series.
The 31-year-old flamboyant lead the chase from the front when his partner was unable to get going.
In this tricky situation, Miller never looked off-colour as he continued to strike at regular intervals to keep the required run-rate down.
He amassed 64 runs in 31 balls( 4×4, 5×6) in what included some monstrous hitting against Harshal, Axar Patel and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
It was only till the 17th over, when Dussen started to crack like a beast belting Harshal Patel for 3 sixes and a four to hold down the equation from 34 in 18 to run a ball 12 and eventually ending India's long 12 successive wins run.
Chasing a target with 10+ required run-rate per over demands some fireworks in the crucial first six overs and to the surprise, it was not Captain Temba Bavuma or Quinton de Kock who fired but was bowling all-rounder Dwayne Pretorius who took the strike at number 3 and played through covers on the second ball he faced.
He then went on to blast three humongous shots to the Kotla Stands off Hardik Pandya amassing 13-ball 29 (4×6) before succumbing to Harshal's dipping full toss.
Batting first, India got off to a flier with Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad (23) taking on African pacers and piling up 51 in the first 6. Parnell in his comeback scalped the later on a length delivery.
Kishan played a fabulous knock of 76 runs in 48 deliveries dispatching 11 balls for boundaries and 3 over the ropes. Shreyas Iyer (36) and 23-year old keeper decided to take on the Bavuma's spinners and accumulated 70 in just 5 overs of Maharaj and Shamsi with later going on for 1-43 in three.
Iyer left passing on the baton to the designated finishers Rishabh Pant (29) and man-in-form Hardik Pandya who carried his rich form with a 12-ball 31 cracking at a strike rate of 258.33 and registered their highest score against Proteas in the shortest format.
Their masterclass was overshadowed by the African duo's heroics. The 2nd match of the series will be played at Cuttack on Sunday.
