David Miller's performnance for his team Gujarat Titans has been praise-worthy. For South Africa's series against India, captain Temba Bavuma said he is open to having a conversation with the Miller to carry forward the momentum and change his batting position in the national T20 team.
Miller enjoyed a fabulous IPL season with the bat where he was a vital cog in the Gujarat Titans team that went on to win the title in its maiden season.
"It's always nice to see guys in form. A guy like David lifting the trophy with the Gujarat Titans - the confidence that he will bring into the team, we look forward to that," Bavuma said.
"David has performed exceedingly well at the IPL and I'm sure that will do a world of good for his confidence and whatever feelings of insecurity that might be there. The conversations that I have had with David, he has never expressed those types of feelings to me. David is still an integral member within our team and we trust his performances will continue well into the future," he added.
The Kiler Miller has struggled to score runs in the T20 format with the national team in the past few years by batting at number six. But batting mostly at number five in the IPL this season, he scored 481 runs with the best average in the competition of 68.71.
"In terms of him batting a bit longer, that has always been the conversation over the years when David has done well. He understands where he fits in within the team. If he feels he can add more value in a different position, a conversation can be had in that regard. There is no way we are going to stifle him or restrict David in any manner. That's how we try to treat all the players. We try to set them up in positions where they can succeed and make strong plays for the team," he added.
South Africa are set to meet India for five T20Is, starting from June 9 to 19.
Venues
- New Delhi
- Cuttack
- Bengaluru
- Visakhapatnam
- Rajkot
India squad: KL Rahul, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen and Marco Jansen.
(Inputs from PTI)
