Roelof van der Merwe’s fantastic catch to dismiss David Miller was the turning point: Habibul Bashar

Former Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar felt that the crucial catch by Roelof van der Merwe to dismiss David Miller turned the Super 12 game in the Netherlands’ favour against South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2022. The Dutch played out of their skins to pull off one of the major upsets in the tournament by beating the Proteas by 13 runs.  

It was the 16th over of the second innings when Miller and Heinrich Klassen were out in the middle and the game was still in South Africa’s hands. Glover bowled a short delivery which turned out to be too uncomfortable for Miller and the steep bounce took the top edge of Miller’s bat. van der Merwe, the 37-year-old veteran ran backwards and completed a stunning catch.

If Miller stayed, then run rate wouldn’t have been a problem: Habibul Bashar 

Bashar said that van der Merwe’s catch will go down among the best in the tournament due to the difficulty of running behind and keeping his balance still. He went on to note that it was a match-turning moment and explained the kind of impact Miller could have had at the back end. He added that South Africa left it too late with expectations from Miller and Klassen to take the side home.  

“Certainly, one of the best catches of the tournament, because he was running behind. He lost the ball at the start but he never lost sight of it completely. He kept looking at it and the ball was going behind him. He was off balance and it was a fantastic catch. Probably, in some games we have seen match-winning moments and this was one of those,” Bashar told in the BatBricks7 Run Ki RunNeeti post-match show on CricTracker. 

“If Miller stayed, then run rate wouldn’t have been a problem as he can score 10-15 runs an over easily at the backend. Probably, South Africa team also expected that as the first ten overs they weren’t scoring enough runs and the thoughts would have been that we have someone like Miller and Klassen for the back end,” he added. 

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