Miller's unfinished World Cup business

It wasn't the image David Miller would have wanted to send into the world. In the mad minutes before the scene was beamed across the globe, India had beaten South Africa by seven runs in the 2024 T20 World Cup final in Barbados.

Miller stood, barely, unable to stop the tears as he leant on his wife, Camilla Harris.

South Africa had needed 16 off the final over when Miller hoisted Hardik Pandya's wide full toss towards long-off. Suryakumar Yadav took a spectacular catch, tumbling over the boundary cushions and back onto the field to complete the dismissal. It was more a miracle than a catch.

If that stroke had gone for six, South Africa would have needed 10 off five with Miller on strike. Another team's name might well have been on the trophy.

Now, a year and several months later, with the next T20 World Cup approaching in Sri Lanka and India, the focus turns to how South Africa can go one step further.

"I've spoken to a lot of different people and teams who have been very successful over the years with different trophies and World Cups," Miller said in a press conference in Cuttack. "I don't think there's one recipe to win a World Cup. I think it takes a group effort, management and players included. It's standing up when the moments matter."

Did losing in Bridgetown still hurt, especially after South Africa had won all eight of their other games in the tournament?

"I thought it was a fantastic final. We were just short at the end, but all in all we found ways to win. There were some very close games throughout for us and we got over the line, so you build confidence as you go along."

Live and learn, Miller seemed to say: "We're going to need some of that moving forward in a couple of months' time. There's a huge pool of players putting up their hands so it's going to be tough for the selectors. I think we're really in a good space. We've got some world-class players and we're going to have to make sure that we properly switch on for every game."

The South Africans will need to flick a switch in their five-match T20I series that starts in Cuttack on Tuesday. Since that final, they've won only nine of their 25 T20Is, including a 3-1 series defeat to India in November 2024. They're also fresh off a flat performance in the third and deciding ODI in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, when India won by nine wickets.

Miller wasn't part of that recent ODI disappointment, having missed 44 of South Africa's 54 white-ball games since the final due to participation in the Hundred and a hamstring injury.

Now he's back with another World Cup looming. Camilla deserves a different outcome this time.