IPL 2017: 5 reasons for David Miller’s poor form
There is no doubt that David Miller is one of the most destructive T20 batsmen in the world and has produced numerous match winning performances in limited overs format for South Africa. Moreover, he has always been a beast for Kings XI Punjab when it comes to playing in the IPL; 1563 runs at an average of 35.52 in 66 matches and that too at a strike rate of 141.44 would suggest so.
However, when we take a look at his statistics from the past couple of years in the IPL, it is evident that he is not the same player that he once used to be. Miller has scored only 83 runs in 5 matches with a best score of 30* in the ongoing edition of IPL before getting dropped.
The South African’s decline started in last year’s edition of the IPL where he scored only 161 runs in 14 matches at an average of 16.10 and a strike rate of 122.9.
Now, let us have a look at those 5 reasons for his poor run in this tournament so far.
#1 Inability to counter spin bowling
Miller is one of the cleanest strikers of the cricket ball in the world. He is a complete nightmare for the fast bowlers as all he needs is a flick of the wrist to send the ball flying into the stands. He has propelled the Kings XI Punjab to victory singlehandedly on numerous occasions in the previous editions.
However, things have changed quite drastically since the last edition of IPL as his weakness to spin was exposed. Not only that, he was dropped in this edition after playing in five matches and he doesn’t seem to have improved upon his weakness against spin.
He is particularly weak against off-spin which has led to his downfall this year, and leg spin has also been his nemesis as he gets completely caught at the crease when facing leg spin.