David Miller sheds light on his stint with Kings XI Punjab
May 24, 2020
New Delhi [India], May 24 : Shedding light on his Indian Premier League (IPL) stint with Kings XI Punjab, South Africa batsman David Miller has said that it was great playing under the leadership of Adam Gilchrist in his initial days in the tournament.
Miller was doing an Instagram live session with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the Proteas batsman was asked to talk about his stint with Kings XI Punjab.
"The first year, I went into the auction and I did not get picked up, literally 10 days before the IPL, I got a call from Kings XI Punjab and they said we are selecting you and you need to come over as soon as possible, there was an injury to Stuart Broad so I packed my bags and I went to India," Miller told Mbangwa.
"That's where it all started, it was an incredible journey, firstly it was a just a one year deal, but then they retained me for the next two years at my base price. The first three years of mine at IPL were incredible," he added.
Explaining further, Miller said that he did not get many games in his first two years with the franchise, but added that spending time with former Australia wicket-keeper Gilchrist was a dream come true for him.
"Adam Gilchrist was the captain at that time, growing up I always looked up to him and Matthew Hayden, I watched Australia play at 3 am in the morning, Gilchrist was captaining me, we had a lot of greats in our side, so it was a dream for me," Miller said.
"In my first year, I did not get a single game at the IPL, halfway through my second year, I got three games and then in my third year, Adam Gilchrist was retiring, he actually pulled his both hamstrings, I then got a game and that's when I played my 101 run knock against RCB," he added.
Miller played 79 matches for the Kings XI Punjab, managing to score 1,850 runs at an average of 34.25.
In the IPL auction 2019, Miller was picked by Rajasthan Royals and he would have represented the side if the tournament had commenced from March 29.
However, the tournament has been suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The left-handed batsman has so far played 132 ODIs and 78 T20Is for South Africa and has managed to score 4,640 runs across both formats.
