Published: April 9, 2026 at 12:06 pm
Delhi Capitals needed two off two balls to win their IPL game against Gujarat Titans on Wednesday night but David Miller chose not to take the single off the penultimate ball and instead try his luck off the last ball. It backfired badly as Prasidh Krishna outfoxed the South African and helped Titans pull off a miraculous one-run win for their first victory in the IPL 2026.
The high drama reminds one of the tied Test between India and Australia at the Chepauk ground in Chennai way back in 1986. In that dramatic Test, India too required two runs to win with just a wicket in hand. Ravi Shastri was batting with last man Maninder Singh and the all-rounder, unlike Miller, chose to take a single and tie the game rather than risk losing the match. Maninder fell and the match was tied. Shastri had come under severe criticism but in hindsight, he was sensible enough to make sure that India did not lose the Test.
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Legendary Sunil Gavaskar said Miller could rue his decision to not take the single as it denied Delhi the chance to take the game deeper via the Super Over.
“This is where game awareness becomes crucial. It reminds me of what Ravi Shastri did in that tied Test against Australia in 1986, taking a single at the right moment to level the scores. In this case, in hindsight, a single might have been the better option, especially after Kuldeep Yadav managed one earlier,” Gavaskar said on JioHotstar’s Google Search AI Mode Match Centre Live.
Prasidh outsmarts Miller to help Titans pull off a thrilling one-run win over Delhi Capitals
“But David Miller was backing himself, he had been striking the ball well and believed he could finish it. You can’t fault that intent. In the end, it also came down to execution, Prasidh Krishna bowled a superb slower bouncer at the right height, which made it difficult. These are very fine margins in pressure situations,” the legendary opener added.
The game would have gone deeper: Rashid
Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, who bowled splendidly and was named the Player of the Match, said if the single was taken it would have taken the game deeper but ‘these are things which you realise only afterwards’.
“I felt David Miller might take a single on the next ball, but in that moment, you also think about different possibilities, like if another slower bouncer is bowled, there could be a chance of a wicket, and that’s exactly what happened. If he had taken a single earlier, the game could have gone deeper, but these are things you realise only afterwards. In the end, it turned out to be a great match, and we’re happy to come out on the winning side,” Rashid Khan said.
On his return to form, Rashid said: “After my surgery, I felt I was trying too many things, thinking about my action, my landing, and overcomplicating my bowling. I took a break after the last season, went back and reassessed what I was doing wrong. I realised my strength has always been my line and length, but in the last couple of years, my length had dropped slightly. I was bowling closer to six metres, whereas my ideal area is around five-and-a-half. That small adjustment makes a big difference, especially on surfaces like red soil where the ball comes on nicely. For me, it was about simplifying things and getting back to hitting the right areas consistently.”
Former England player Kevin Pietersen praised Rashid for his outstanding show with the cherry. “Rashid Khan was outstanding. It’s always good to see him back close to his best because by his own standards, he would expect more from himself. Having said that, I don’t think Gujarat Titans’ bowling as a whole was at its best, and they didn’t close the game out particularly well. But that’s the nature of the game, you’ll have more tough days than good ones,” Pietersen said.
