South Africa star batter David Miller indirectly blamed the International Cricket Council (ICC) after losing the Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal against New Zealand. Both semifinalists of group B, South Africa and Australia, travelled to Dubai after finishing their group stage match as India's opponent for the semifinals was not decided till they defeated New Zealand in their third league match.
After India's win over New Zealand in their third group stage match, South Africa who travelled to Dubai, travelled back to Pakistan as the second semifinal of the mega event was scheduled to take place in Lahore. Australia faced India in Dubai. On the other hand, South Africa faced New Zealand. Miller, who smashed a century against New Zealand, believes that travelling to Dubai was not the ideal situation for the Proteas.
"It's only an hour-and-40-minute flight, but the fact that we had to do that [was not ideal]," Miller said. "It's early morning, it's after a game, and we had to fly. Then we got to Dubai at 4pm. And at 7.30 in the morning we had to come back. It doesn't make it nice. It's not like we flew five hours, and we had enough time to recover and recuperate. But it was not an ideal situation still" said David Miller after South Africa's win
Miller was the lone fighter from South Africa in the semifinal, after coming to bat at number six, he smashed a century in 67 balls, which is the quickest ton in the history of the Champions Trophy. He is the first player to achieve the milestone in the history of the competition in less than 70 balls. The record belonged to Virender Sehwag for 23 years, who smashed a 77-ball ton against England at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo in 2002.
Miller becomes the first South Africa player to smash two centuries in the knockout matches of International Cricket Council (ICC) events after reaching the three-figure mark against Australia at Kolkata's Eden Gardens in the 2023 World Cup semi-final.
Despite Miller's century, South Africa lost the semifinal against New Zealand by 50 runs. New Zealand will now face India in the final of the mega event which will take place at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai on March 9.
