David Miller Weighs In On Scheduling Challenges After Semi-Final Loss
Amid the ongoing turmoil over pitch shifts during the Champions Trophy 2025, South Africa’s David Miller has expressed concern over his team’s loss in the semi-final of the tournament. Due to the tournament’s complex scheduling, New Zealand and South Africa had to fly to Dubai from Pakistan prior to the semi-finals. Both teams had to travel to Dubai after finishing their group-stage matches, since India’s opponent for the semi-finals was not decided until they defeated New Zealand in their third league match. South Africa’s stay, however, lasted less than 24 hours before returning without playing any matches. This complexity arose because India played all their matches in Dubai, refusing to travel to the tournament’s host country, Pakistan, due to political and safety concerns.
When Australia faced India in Dubai, South Africa played New Zealand in the semi-finals, which was held in Dubai. “It’s only an hour-and-40-minute flight, but the fact that we had to do that [was not ideal],” Miller said.
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South Africa had to make their trip to Dubai shortly after defeating England in Karachi on Saturday. “It’s early morning, it’s after a game, and we had to fly. Then we got to Dubai at 4:00 pm, and at 7:30 am, 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 said.
In the semi-final against New Zealand, Miller was the lone fighter from South Africa. After coming to bat at number six, he smashed a century in 67 balls, which is the quickest ton in the history of the Champions Trophy. He is the first player to achieve this milestone in the history of the competition in less than 70 balls. The record belonged to Virender Sehwag for 23 years, who smashed a 77-ball ton against England at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo in 2002.
With the century, Miller became the first South African player to smash two centuries in the knockout matches of International Cricket Council (ICC) events, after reaching the three-figure mark against Australia at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in the 2023 World Cup semi-final. Despite Miller’s century, his team lost in the semi-finals against New Zealand by 50 runs. New Zealand will now face India in the final of the mega event, which will take place at Dubai International Stadium on March 9.
Regarding the upcoming final, Miller shared his preference, saying, “I’ll be honest with you, I think I’ll be supporting New Zealand.”
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As per the deal signed between the arch-rivals, Pakistan will have to play at a neutral venue in any ICC tournament hosted by India until 2027. This controversial decision was made after Jay Shah, the secretary of the BCCI, took over as ICC chairman in December at the headquarters of the sport’s governing body in Dubai.
