THIS batter who plays for Gujarat Titans in IPL becomes 5th cricketer to set massive T20 record, not even Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or MS Dhoni achieved it

There are only six cricketers in the world who has turned out in 500 T20 matches in their career till date. West Indies legends Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo lead the way with 684 and 582 matches, Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik turned out in 542 matches while another couple of Windies all-rounders – Sunil Narine and Andre Russell have played in 525 and 523 matches respectively.

This elite list was joined by another member – David Miller from South Africa, who turned out in his 500th T20 match on Wednesday while playing for the Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 2024 match against the Guyana Amazon Warriors. Indian batting legends like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni have got nowhere close to this landmark.

Miller, who plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), celebrated this occasion in style, as he scored 71 not out in 34 balls, with eight fours and five sixes. His runs coming at a strike rate of 208.82.

However, it was not enough as Barbados could score just 172 for 9 in reply to Guyana’s 219/8, which they had reached thanks to explosive half-centuries from West Indies stars Shai Hope (71 in 37 balls, with five fours and five sixes) and Shimron Hetmyer (57 in 34 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes).

“He’s a very important player not just for South Africa, but across the leagues around the world. To find some form going into the playoffs is good. Winning does bring confidence to the group, but this loss doesn’t mean it’s down. We have a few plans, we know the type of team we’ll play in the play-offs and the real cricket starts next week, we’ll be ready for that,” Royals captain Rovman Powell said about David Miller.

 

David Miller, the man you are! pic.twitter.com/exfygCX7da

— Barbados Royals (@BarbadosRoyals) September 26, 2024

Across the 500 T20s, Miller has scored 10,678 runs at an average of 34.89, with a strike rate of over 137. He has scored four centuries and 48 fifties across 455 innings, with the best score of 120*. He has made a name for himself in numerous leagues across the world, be it CPL, SA20 in South Africa, the Indian Premier League (IPL), Major League Cricket (MLC) in the USA, Pakistan Super League (PSL), Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL) etc.

In the ongoing CPL 2024, Miller has scored 152 runs in six matches at an average of 38.00 and a strike rate of over 142, with one fifty.

Earlier, Royals captain Rovman Powell won the toss on what looked a fantastic batting wicket and opted to insert the opposition. The pitch was conducive to stroke-play and despite the early loss of Rahmanullah Gurbaz the Warriors cashed in, posting an imposing 219/8 off their 20 overs.

At one point, when Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer were in full flow and displaying some mouth-watering strokeplay it very much looked like a bigger total would be in the offing for the Warriors but after the two experienced hands fell before the end (for 71 off 37 balls and 57 off 34 balls respectively) the Royals managed to peg the defending champions back in the final five overs. Maheesh Theeskhana the pick of the Royals bowlers with an economical and wicket-taking spell of 3/15.