T20 World Cup: ‘Killer’ Miller clinches a thriller for South Africa | Cricket News – Times of India

Combines with Rabada to turn the tide
If two shots could ever decide the fate of a match, then this game was a classic example of it. Capitalising on two misfired length balls by Lahiru Kumara, David Miller, that old pro, blasted two massive sixes over the cow corner in the final over, to take South Africa to a nerve-wracking, four-wicket win over Sri Lanka in a T20 World Cup Group I match in Sharjah on Saturday.
SCORECARD
Sri Lanka looked to be the favourites when the Proteas needed 25 off the final two overs with just four wickets in hand, but a six in the penultimate over by Kagiso Rabada off Dushmantha Chameera eased the pressure, before ‘killer’ Miller produced his magic to finish the game in style. Miller has now hit 77 sixes in T20 – the maximum by a South African batter in T20I.
The way he and Rabada shrieked in joy and punched each other’s gloves after SA sneaked home, tells you how much this win meant to the Proteas as this point in time. With Quinton de Kock back in the mix after apologising for not ‘taking the knee’ in the last game, and joining his teammates in displaying the anti-racism gesture, the Proteas now have notched up two wins in three matches, and look charged up to make a serious bid for the semis. They now take on Bangladesh on Tuesday.

A fighting Sri Lanka were propped up by a brilliant batting effort by Pathum Nissanka (72, 58b, 3×6, 6×4), which was the sole reason they got to 142. Leggie Wanindu Hasaranga (3-20) backed it up with a hat-trick by but, despite being in control of the game for a major part of the match, the Islanders lost the plot in the final two overs, as their pacers missed their yorkers. Having lost their second game in a row after starting off with a win in the Super 12s, they now play England on Monday, and look in danger of being knocked out.
The foundation for South Africa’s chase was laid by skipper Temba Bauma, who scored a run-a-ball 46 after dropping himself down the order to accommodate opener Reeza Hendricks. For a while, when he ran out Rassie Van der Dussen (16) and struggled to force the pace, hitting just one four and six in his knock, Bavuma looked like turning out to be the ‘villain of the match,’ for the Proteas, but eventually, it was his patient stay at the crease which kept SA in the hunt after they’d slipped to 49 for three in eight overs against some fine fast bowling by the genuinely Chameera, and energetic fielding by the Lankans.
The game looked firmly in the Sri Lanka’s control when Harsaranga took the wickets of Aiden Markram (bowled off a googly), Bavuma (caught superbly by Nissanka on the deep mid-wicket fence) Dwaine Pretorious (holed out to long on) off consecutive balls in his 15th and 18th overs, but Miller and Rabada snatched it away from them.