The floodgates opened in the second half.and the deflection going into the goal in the 36th minute. Then it was Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson's turn to make a mistake, firing a clearance directly into Vinícius Jr. rifling one into the bottom corner in the 21st minute. Real Madrid came back with a vengeance, with the in-form Vinícius Jr.Darwin Núñez's stunning flick found the back of the net in the fourth minute, and Madrid goalkeeper Thibault Cortois' awful error resulted in an easy tap-in from Mohamed Salah in the 14th minute.They also couldn't have produced a better - or more stunning - finish.Īfter going down 2-0 less than 15 minutes into the game, Real Madrid ripped off five straight goals in a 5-2 away thrashing of Liverpool in the first leg of their Round of 16 Champions League tie. Real Madrid couldn't have asked for a worse start. Given his Midas touch right now, it won’t be entirely surprising if his wish turns prophetic.Good morning to everyone but especially to. Miller now has played a key role in two out of South Africa’s three biggest run chases.Įarlier this month, Miller said that he had added the World Cup to his list of “new year resolutions”. The form has been fine this year – against England in Bloemfontein, Miller played a typical Miller knock, coming in the third quarter of the chase, and taking them home with a nonchalant, unbeaten 37-ball 58. Equipped with a stronger spin game, and well-versed in Indian conditions courtesy of the IPL, Miller could further bolster his reputation as one of the game’s finest white-ball strikers. Just like the 2015 edition, the upcoming World Cup could take Miller to the next level. In 14 innings, he has been dismissed only three times by spinners. From 2010 to 2019, his strike rate against spin stood at 88.28. According to CricViz, up until 2020, Miller started slowly against spin, scoring at 4.1 runs per over in the first 20 balls of his innings. That has partly to do with his better handling of spin in the last few years, which has also enhanced his T20 record. Last three years, it has been comfortably over 100. In his worst year, the strike rate has been 87.69. The numbers continued to get better after since 2015, he has averaged over 45 in six out of eight years. Miller was operating among the big leagues. Miller discovered himself at the World Cup – only AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla scored more runs for South Africa, and only de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell and Brendon McCullum scored more runs at a higher rate. In his first four calendar years, the average hovered around 30, sometimes below. But there was a potential-versus-results mismatch early on. He came with a set of slogans too: if it was in the V, it was into the tree, and if it was in the arc, it was out of the park. When Miller first came on the scene, he had all the elements of a stellar white-ball player: it never took too long for the big hits to come out, the game awareness was evident, and he was a sharp and quick between the wickets. South Africa have won 25 and lost just five matches when Miller has remained unbeaten. For South Africa, only de Villiers averages higher in the same cut-off. In successful chases, Miller averages 79.16 at a strike rate of 117.86 – with a 15-innings cut-off, only Thisara Perera, Shahid Afridi, Glenn Maxwell and Jason Roy have struck at a higher rate. It’s a role that Miller has only got better at, often taking the responsibility of anchoring a chase and taking his team through, especially since the retirement of AB de Villiers. Miller’s strike rate is well above those two, and he’s hit two centuries in that position, as opposed to one each from the pair. At No.6, he has 16 fifty-plus scores in 73 innings – only MS Dhoni and Michael Bevan, regarded as perhaps the two greatest one-day finishers – have a higher tally. Miller has played the majority of his innings at five and six, often left with the job to close off a chase or rapidly accelerate from the get-go while setting totals.
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