The scheduling of the Champions Trophy 2025 has come under intense scrutiny with South Africa cricketer David Miller joining the chorus of criticism.
For the unversed, India’s decision to not travel to Pakistan, who are the hosts of the tournament, forced the International Cricket Council (ICC) to shift their matches to Dubai. The teams playing against India had to travel back and forth between Pakistan and Dubai, causing them immense trouble.
Out of all the sides, South Africa felt the impact of the ICC’s plan the most. As the semi-final draw was unclear until the final group match, they decided to travel to Dubai to prepare themselves better in case they faced India in the knockouts. However, as New Zealand lost to India, South Africa had to fly back to Lahore within hours of landing in Dubai.
Also read: “It is just nonsense” - David Lloyd slams ‘embarrassing’ Champions Trophy 2025 schedule
Playing semi-final 2 against New Zealand, South Africa faced a 50-run defeat and were knocked out of the competition. Chasing a massive target of 363 runs, Miller was left alone in the end with his century going in vain.
Following South Africa's exit, Miller did not hold back, describing the travel arrangements as not ideal and expressing sympathy for his team's disrupted preparation.
"It's only an hour and 40 minute flight, but the fact that we had to do that was not ideal," Miller said after South Africa lost to New Zealand on Wednesday by 50 runs. It's early morning, it's after a game and we had to fly. Then we got to Dubai at 4:00 pm. And at 7.30 am 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," Miller said as quoted.
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David Miller to support New Zealand in final of Champions Trophy 2025
New Zealand will face India in the final of the Champions Trophy 2025 on March 9 in Dubai.
While Miller praised India for their dominance, he shared that he will be supporting New Zealand in the final.
"I’ll be honest with you. I think I’ll be supporting New Zealand. They’re both incredibly good teams. India have shown the world how really good they are. They’ve been playing some good cricket for a number of years now and they’ve got some seriously good players. It’s going to be a great game," Miller added.
The last time both these teams met, the Men in Blue got the better of the Black Caps and won by 44 runs.
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