As the semifinals are wrapped up, the focus is now well and truly on the Champions Trophy mega final match. New Zealand booked their spot in the final against India after beating South Africa in the other semifinal match which was played at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.
To be honest, it was a one-sided game as New Zealand did a good job on the South Africa team. Batting first, the Kiwis posted a humungous total of 362/6 in 50 overs, courtesy of two incredible hundreds from Rachin Ravindra (108 off 101) and Kane Williamson (102 off 94). Despite cricket is all about hitting these days, this total was still untouchable to some extent when you look at the stats that only a handful of teams have managed to chase down a total as big as this.
That’s what happened. Right from the first over, South Africa were playing the catch up game. With run-rate increasing and South Africa kept losing wickets, it was eventually a case of how small the margin could be between the two teams.
David Miller picks his favorite team for IND vs NZ Final
The margin of defeat could have been above 100 runs had it not been for the incredible effort of David Miller. The 35-year-old Southpaw smashed 100 runs off just 67 balls, at a whopping strike-rate of 149.25. This innings look even more special when you consider that the strike-rate of Kiwis’ centurions was below 110. He deserved a better result for his efforts alone, but it’s a team game and in this game, Miller’s teammates failed to turn up.
After the game, Miller was asked about who he is going to support in the Champions Trophy final match.
“I’ll be honest with you. I think I’ll be supporting New Zealand.”
Miller also touched upon the hot topic of tournament’s logistics as certain team had to fly out to Dubai to play India, who refused to go to Pakistan for this tournament.
“It’s only an hour-and-40-minute flight, but the fact that we had to do that [was not ideal],” Miller said after the match.
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“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 added.
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