David Miller loses his cool, charges at Washington Sundar in heated moment during player of the match performance

India’s hopes of defending the T20 World Cup title were dealt a real blow as South Africa crushed them by 76 runs. Despite an excellent start with the ball where they had the Proteas reeling at 20/3, the Indian bowlers had few answers for the counter-attack led by David Miller through the middle overs.

The always-composed Miller played some of his best cricket to score 63(35) with seven fours and three big sixes, restructuring the South African innings and helping the team to 187/7 in conjunction with Dewald Brevis and Tristan Stubbs.

However, composure deserted Miller as he was caught in an altercation with another player who is typically considered to be a collected character. Washington Sundar found himself at odds with Miller, leading to a shouting match between the pair mid-match that caught the attention of cricket fans.

The incident occurred during the middle overs after Stubbs knocked a single into the leg-side, with Miller his partner at the other end. Sundar seemed to take umbrage at Miller leaving his crease too early, before he had completed his delivery, and took his complaint to the umpire.

Proteas crush India, take control of Group 1

Miller was not too happy with Sundar’s assertion in that moment, as he approached the Indian all-rounder quizically and engaged in a heated conversation. They had to be separated at first by umpire Chris Gaffaney, who asked the players to disengage, before Proteas captain Aiden Markram also arrived at the scene during the drinks break.

What exactly prompted the disagreement between a pair of players remains unclear, but didn’t seem to play a factor again. Miller was dismissed soon after, giving India another solid foothold in the innings.

It was more or less India’s last moment of joy for the night, as Tristan Stubbs provided a powerful finish to the innings to set a target of 188. In response, things went wrong immediately for India, as in-form Ishan Kishan was dismissed for a duck.

India were incapable of stitching together any sort of partnership as the asking rate slipped further and further away. Ultimately, the 76-run loss after India were bowled out for 111 will create a dent in the net run-rate, and leave the hosts with a lot of work to do in the rest of the Super 8s, with survival now the call of the hour.

Click here to read article