David Miller: The Fallen Hero

From smashing a hundred off just 38 balls to managing a meager 162 runs in this IPL season, David Miller is going through a lean patch. With just 11 fours and 4 sixes, he has had a season way below his potential. Who would have ever imagined that someone like David Miller, who strikes the ball as neatly as anyone can, would struggle so much to deposit the ball into the stands? 

There was a lot of excitement leading into the tournament as he was given the captaincy of Kings XI Punjab. After pretty ordinary performances in the first quarter of 2016, added responsibility of captaining the side was assumed to be the catalyst for his return to form. Unfortunately, things didn't pan out the way it was expected. He couldn't find his natural touch, the fluency was missing, the ball rarely hit the middle of the bat and his stay at the crease was as long as a Bollywood movie song. 

His poor form with the bat seemed to affect his decisions as captain, and he was rightly replaced by Murali Vijay. It did make an impact on his performance but not too much. Apart from a couple of decent innings, things didn't change much for the swashbuckler. It got even worse for him when he couldn't get a place in South Africa's squad for the ongoing triangular series in West Indies. Just wonder how difficult life would for David Miller these days.

Today, on his birthday, let's wish him a very happy birthday and a quick return to form. May he soon get into the Killer-Miller mode and make a strong comeback in South Africa's playing XI.

Best wishes for you, David!

The Journey Of Rohit Sharma: From Maggie Boy To Ro-Hit Man

           

It's a beautiful story this, of Rohit Sharma and IPL-6. Rohit Sharma since the IPL-6 has been a completely different player. He is now much more responsible and unlike the Rohit Sharma of old, he now likes playing the long inning and doesn't often throw his wicket away as he used to. However he made his debut for India in 2007, he had not cemented his place in the Indian Team till 2013 which was very embarrassing for a player of his class. Elegance and finesse in his batting attracted a lot of people to watch him bat but also brought a huge amount of disappointment when he didn't play as well as he could have. Then came IPL-6 which changed his life for the better.

It was in 2013 that Mumbai Indians went on to win their first IPL title and Rohit Sharma was a part of another IPL winning team, but this time being the captain. Initially, Ricky Ponting had been named the captain of Mumbai Indians, the excitement to see two greats of the game, Ponting and Tendulkar, play together in the same team was at its peak. But things didn't work out as well as they would have desired. Ponting couldn't find his touch and time was running by. After a few matches he decided to step down and Rohit Sharma was named the captain of Mumbai Indians. Given the role of captaincy, Rohit started playing a lot more carefully. Now being more determined to play a big knock and take his team through, Rohit didn't just play a kind of a cameo and be satisfied. Mumbai Indians got good returns of showing faith in him as he, with his consistent performances led them to their maiden IPL title. After getting done with the IPL, he made sure he continued the good work while playing for India too.

Prior to the IPL-6 in the ODI series against England, Rohit was given an opportunity to open the batting with Gautam Gambhir. He played well for his 83 but was lucky to be dropped by Kevin Pietersen earlier in his innings. Although it had nothing to do with his extremely good performances in IPL-6, that knock put him ahead of others in the selection for Champions Trophy.

Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were selected in the squad for Champions Trophy but only two of the three had to be selected for the opening slot. There wasn't much fuss over Dhawan's selection in the team because of the scintillating 187 that he scored in his test debut against Australia followed up by some good performances in IPL.

So a choice had to be made between Vijay and Sharma. Vijay had a very good test series against Australia. But poor performances in IPL along with no significant score in the warm up matches leading up to the Champions Trophy meant that Sharma was then preferred over Vijay to open the batting with Dhawan. Had Vijay played well in the warm-ups, we might just have had a different opening combination.

In the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, his promotion to the opening slot meant that now he had ample time to settle down and not be in a rush to score from the very first ball. And in the first match against South Africa, luck also went by his side as Dale Steyn didn't play due to injury, making things a lot more easier in his mind as well as on the field. After a few descent performances in the Champions Trophy and in the following couple of series, Rohit finally did justice to his talent. Scoring a blistering 141 not out against Australia  and then a couple of matches later, became only the third batsman to score a double-century in ODI cricket. Thereafter he hasn't looked back and is now a dependable opening batsman for India in limited overs.

Hence, the role of captaincy assigned to him in IPL-6 was the turning point of his career. Mumbai Indians have now won two titles in three seasons under his captaincy. Also in international cricket, he is getting better as the time is passing by. Maybe after retirement, some day he will look back and realize that taking over the captaincy of Mumbai Indians, which would have seemed pretty challenging then, made a whole lot of difference to his life. Be it the IPL or international cricket, he is now a superstar at both the levels. The Ro-Hit Man!