It can't be easy being David Miller right now. One of the most celebrated T20 batters in the world, Miller has been on the bench for the last two games with Delhi Capitals (DC) bowing at the altar of team combination, opting for Pathum Nissanka at the top and fitting in Mitchell Starc after his late arrival alongside Lungi Ngidi. "Obviously it is frustrating," Miller said a day out from DC's next IPL 2026 game, against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday at home in Delhi.
"You always want to play every game, but such is the IPL, the structure of it with only four overseas [players in the XI], the combinations become really important for the team," Miller said. "So I have been around. This is not my first IPL, so I kind of understand the make-up, and [it is] just really to give positive feedback to the rest of the squad, always being positive and give what I can towards the team remains really important for me.
"And then just waiting for my opportunity to come again - if it does come around for the rest of the season or not, I just want to remain ready, prepare really well, that is what us players like to do."
Miller has featured in every IPL since 2012. He had his share of good seasons: 418, 446 and 357 runs at healthy strike rates from 2013 to 2015, for example. And he's had his share of poor seasons, including the latest one, where he has scored just 123 runs from seven innings at a strike rate of 146.42. He has remained unbeaten on four occasions, but the 41 not out in 20 balls against Gujarat Titans (GT) in early April remains his best effort. That innings, though, is best remembered for the single that wasn't.
That was one of DC's six losses in ten games, which is why they are at No. 7 on the points table.
"It is four from four - we pretty much need to win [every game] now. We have to win four from four to have a chance of qualifying, so it becomes really important," Miller said of the points-table situation. "Yeah look, it is not easy. Obviously we do not go out there to lose a game. So we have definitely debriefed and spoken about a few things. I do not think we have been playing bad cricket at all. We have been playing really good cricket, but there are just moments in the game where we have kind of let ourselves down as a team in certain areas.
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"And it is not one particular area the whole time, it is just little phases here and there. And when the opposition teams are really strong and competitive, you really have to be on your game at all stages because any team can beat anyone. Bottom of the table or top of the table, it is really competitive."
But the batting, with the exception of KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs, and Nissanka and Sameer Rizvi to a lesser extent, has often been below par. And the pitches at home in Delhi have not been DC's ally.
"The pitches have been a bit different. I mean it is not impossible to play. I think we scored around 260 [264 against Punjab Kings, which was chased down], then there have been one or two low scores, so it has been a little bit different," Miller said. "But look, that is the nature of cricket. You are always having to adapt to the conditions and what lies in front of you. I think potentially chasing might be an option to see what total you have to score on a wicket that you are not too sure what it is going to do.
"I think with the batting, it is pretty clear the games that we have not done too well, we have lost wickets in clusters. Two, three, four wickets [close to each other]. And it puts us into positions where we have to rebuild and then obviously try and get a total that is competitive.
"And then there are moments here and there where we have dropped a couple of catches that potentially could have changed the outcome of the game."
