Why David Miller is the jewel in the T20 crown or why David Miller is still one of the best batsman in our team

David Miller has only played a single solitary match in the IPL, and it was not a particularly good, or lengthy sojourn out to the middle. A duck early in the competition has been the extent of his contributions for the Rajasthan Royals this year. Some would say this is evidence of a long-standing IPL decline. On paper, its hard to argue against that being the case. He only has one year averaging over 30 in the last five seasons, compared to four straight years in his first four years in the competition. Similarly, his strike rate has not climbed above 130 once in the last five editions, compared to four straight seasons over 130 in the beginning. It is fair to say that the David Miller star, which was once on of the brightest in the IPL galaxy (he was a player who regularly fetched over a million dollars) has waned and may possibly be facing an outright dwarfing as he is in maybe the worst place to be in all of sports - a benched player on a bad team. Certainly, if my interest was in the IPL or selection headaches in the IPL, I would likely advocate that David Miller should not be anywhere near my mythical favourite IPL team. Every major statistical category seems have seen a notable decline in the second half of his IPL career making it difficult if not almost impossible to justify keeping him in the set up. 

MILLER TIME NEARS CLOSING TIME? THE FALL OF DAVID MILLER IN THE IPL IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS 

	2012-2015	2016-2020
Matches	47	33
Runs	1319	531
Average	38.79	25.28
Strike rate	147.5	121
50+	8	1
Sixes	70	17
Balls per six	12.77	25.82

 

And this seems to be the problem. Too many people have married his IPL struggles with his Protea career and decided he needs to be dropped for his IPL form. Now, I understand that players do need to prove form, and as such, the IPL remains a huge part of that, but Miller's IPL struggles are not his Protea struggles and the two should, to sensible degree, still be separated.

For one, while you could argue Miller has not had a single good year in the last five IPL seasons, his Protea work has been, for the most part, outstanding. His average has been better than 30 four times in the last six years, and his strike rate has exceeded 130 the same amount. Last year, he averaged 39, had a strike rate of 160, won a man of the series, and captained a team for the first time. Hardly the actions or performance of a man in an irreversible decline. Indeed, a contrast in his IPL and Protea form over the last five years seems to indicate that, in Proteas colours at least, Miller has not lost a step. 

IN CONTRAST: DAVID MILLER'S PERFORMANCES IN IPL AND PROTEA COLOURS 2016-2020

	Protea career 2016-2020	IPL editions 2016-2020
Matches	38	33
Runs	756	531
Average	30.24	25.28
Strike rate	150.29	121
50+	3	1
Sixes	39	17
Balls per six	12.89	25.82

 That strike rate is the best in Protea colours of all players with over 250 runs in that period, and the average is only just below the likes of Quinton de Kock. It's easy to combine separate events and come to incorrect conclusions, we do it all the time. But the reality is Miller is going to have to be an important part of the dialogue if South Africa's T20 side is to move forward. It's always Miller time in Protealand